Cetera to advisors: Selling your practice requires our OK
March 29, 2023 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News If financial advisors don't seek the firm's approval, they risk running afoul of securities regulators, Cetera said. In a major brokerage firm move that appears to some to be coming out of left field, Cetera Financial Group recently alerted its roughly 8,000 financial advisors that selling their practices, often the most valuable asset an advisor owns and controls, requires the approval of the firm. If advisors don’t seek Cetera’s OK, they risk running afoul of securities regulators, particularly the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., and could even be barred from the industry, according to Cetera. Cetera’s warning to advisors comes as the mergers and acquisition market for all types of advisory practices and firms remains active, even in the face of rising interest rates, last year’s market downturn...