Sale of Securities America: Advisors Should ‘Run,’ Recruiter Says
by Janet Levaux and featured in Advisor One April, 2011: With Ameriprise Financial poised to sell Securities America after a series of legal disputes and costly settlements associated with two sales of private placements, recruiters say that advisors now affiliated with the independent broker-dealer should proactively consider their options. And, for at least one veteran recruiter, this means moving quickly to a “safer, more secure” broker-dealer environment. “I’d say run to the safest spot,” said Rick Peterson, a Houston-based recruiter, in a phone interview with AdvisorOne. “This could be to the largest IBD in the world, Linsco [LPL Financial], which has not had any of the issues” associated with private placement sales like Securities America. The point, he says, is to be able to tell your client that you are moving to a larger...