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To understand what Canaccord Capital is up to these days, it helps to understand the way they do business at Raymond James.

The Florida-based investment dealer is home to a large retail sales force. There are 1,382 stockbrokers in what you and I would consider a traditional role: Their business cards says Raymond James, and they invest for clients out of company-owned offices.

But Raymond James RJF-N also has a huge business serving as the back office for 3,427 stockbrokers, who the dealer calls “independent contractors.” These financial advisors likely have their own names on their business cards, and their office doors.

The independent advisors each generated an average of $330,000 (U.S.) in commissions last year for Raymond James. This consistent retail fee income, drawn from client assets of $196-billion, is a big reason the dealer posted record revenue and profits in 2008. In total, Raymond James’ stockbrokers contributed 61 per cent of the firm’s total revenues last year, and the dealer’s stock actually went up, at a time when bigger, better known Wall Street banks were going bust.

Now, here’s the Canaccord connection. The Canadian firm makes no bones about wanting to expand its retail presence. However, it’s difficult to recruit from rivals.

Yet Canaccord has a maverick corporate culture and a focus on the growth stocks that appeal to a certain breed of financial advisor. That same type of advisor might also jump at an opportunity to control their business. So why not just steal a page from the guys in Florida, by hiring a couple of Raymond James veterans and rolling out the independent contractor concept?

Canaccord CCI-T hired George Karkoulas as a senior vice president and head of its new “principal-agent retail distribution initiative,” after he spent the last seven years successfully building this division for Raymond James in Canada. Former Raymond James Canada CEO Peter Bailey, another veteran of the retail business, has also signed on as a consultant.

It’s part of a larger push to expand both the size and the quality of the retail arm at Canaccord under head of private client services John Rothwell, who joined last year. In an internal note to colleagues, Mr. Rothwell explained: “Our operational build-out in support of George’s business will leverage our independence, infrastructure and operational strengths and increase the scope of our recruiting offering.”

Right now, Canaccord has 338 teams of stockbrokers, calling the shots on $9.2-billion (Canadian) of client assets. This retail franchise accounted for a third of the dealer’s total revenues last year. Adding more advisors to this team, in any form, can only improve the dealer’s financial performance.