COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENCIES AND GUARANTEES, Commitments and Contingencies (Details)				6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended				6 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015 Loans to financial advisors and certain key revenue producers commitment USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 Independent venture capital or private equity partnerships commitment USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 Internally sponsored private equity limited partnership commitment USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 Commitment to lend to RJTCF USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 Raymond James & Associates Inc Underwriting commitment transaction	Mar. 31, 2015 Raymond James & Associates Inc Forward GNMA MBS purchase committments USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 Raymond James & Associates Inc TBA securities USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 Raymond James Ltd Underwriting commitment CAD	Mar. 31, 2015 Subsidiary of RJ Bank Commitment to lend to RJTCF USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 RJ Bank RJ Bank syndicated loans USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 RJ Bank RJ Bank commitment to lend to limited partnership USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 RJ Bank Forward starting advance transaction with FHLB USD ($)
Commitments [Line Items]
Number of open underwriting commitments					2
Amount of commitment	$ 59,600,000			$ 250,000,000		$ 498,000,000		52,100,000	$ 61,600,000		$ 3,000,000	$ 25,000,000
Purchased syndicated loans not yet settled										46,300,000
Settlement days of purchased syndicated loan										90 days
Amount of commitments fulfilled									20,600,000		1,200,000
Future borrowing interest rate, effective rate												3.40%
Other commitment		56,000,000
Unfunded commitments in which we control the general partner			20,000,000
Cash funded to invest in loans or investments in project partnerships				39,700,000
Reserve for unfunded lending commitments				88,900,000
Number of days that investments in project partnerships typically sold				90 days
Expected time of purchase (in days)						90 days
Net liability fair value of TBA securities							2,200,000
Estimated fair value of the TBA security purchase commitment liability							$ (2,200,000)