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Fifth Third Securities has been aggressively recruiting candidates for its investment sales team. They just hired a sales person to run the eastern territory and a sales manager for Tennessee and Georgia.

Howard Hammond became president four years ago and is primarily responsible for this move towards advisor driven investing. Before Hammond, its primary focus was annuity driven. According to Inside Fifth Third’s New Investment Sales Team, Howard J. Stock states, “Before (Howard Hammond) joined, annuities (fixed and variable) made up 60% of sales; now they account for just 15%, (Hammond) says.”

All managers for the sales team at Fifth Third Bank have been producers at some point in their careers so they are aware of all the opportunities and challenges advisors face. This gives them an advantage in recruiting the right candidate. Fifth Third has over 1,000 branches covering 12 states and is trying to take over new territories while increasing its existing territories. Hiring the right sales managers is the key to growing their territories. According to Howard J. Stock,

“Michelle Griffith (new sales manager for the eastern territory) has just hired the 19th advisor in her territory and plans to add more whenever she finds a promising candidate. With a territory of 70 branches, there’s plenty of room for growth as she takes a slice of the program forward.”

Just like Griffith, other sales managers are combing their territories in search of the perfect candidates to work for Fifth Third Securities. Fifth Third hopes to increase their branches in all territories substantially in the upcoming years. Howard J. Stock states, “The bank’s goal…is to eventually have 200 branches in Georgia and 65 to 70 in Tennessee.”