Articles / Resources

Surprise Suitor Emerging in Sale of Woodbury

17:01 20 July in In the News by rafferty

July 19, 2012 by Bruce Kelly, Investment News Sources say AIG's Advisor Group one of four potential buyers for The Hartford's indie B-D; past connections cited The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is close to announcing a buyer for its independent broker-dealer, Woodbury Financial Services Inc., according to several sources outside the firm but close to its brokers. Indeed, announcement of a deal for the 1,600 registered representatives and financial advisers is expected before the B-D's national sales conference in mid-August, industry recruiters said. The Hartford said in March it intends to sell Woodbury, along with a number of other noncore businesses, as part of a broad restructuring. According to industry sources, four firms are in the running for Woodbury, which generated $253.7 million in gross revenue last year. Three of the potential acquirers — Ladenburg Thalmann Financial...

Newbridge Securities in Regulators’ Sights, Again

22:53 18 July in In the News by rafferty

WealthManagement.com July 18, 2012 Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, the state securities regulator, is investigating Ft. Lauderdale broker/dealer Newbridge Securities, wealthmanagement.com has learned. It’s just the latest in a long trail of regulatory woe for Newbridge, whose executives and brokers have fallen afoul of securities laws repeatedly since the firm started operating in 2000. The broker/dealer has a little over 200 reps, each of which is required to generate a minimum of $80,000 in trailing 12-month commissions, according to its website. The firm reported revenues of $39 million and a net loss of $390,983 in 2011, a March filing with the Securities Exchange Commission shows. The Florida state regulator confirmed that it has a case open on the firm, based on customer complaints, but could not discuss the case further or release the complaints....

Making Way for Breakaways

18:33 18 July in In the News by rafferty

July 15, 2012 by Dan Jamieson, Investment News One of the challenges breakaway brokers face is maintaining the commission-based business they keep when they move to a fee-based model. That's why accommodating the securities business of breakaway brokers is critical for custodial firms that want to capture fee-based assets. And it's why so-called RIA-friendly broker-dealers, which work with independent RIA firms, have enjoyed solid growth. Cambridge Investment Research Inc., perhaps the granddaddy of the RIA-friendly niche, went from around $2 million in revenue with little fee business 20 years ago to $21 million in revenue today, 55% of it derived from a share of advisory fees. The firm's advisers handle $44 billion in total, $23 billion of which is fee-based. “We rode that [hybrid] wave,” said Cambridge chief executive Eric Schwartz. “We supported any business...

Was Fusion Feeding Into NFP’s Rollup Model?

17:37 16 July in In the News by rafferty

by Diana Britton in Yield of Dreams July 13, 2012 National Financial Partners, the independent financial services company headed by Jessica Bibliowicz, is known on the Street for its roll-up model, acquiring the best independent financial advisory firms it can to achieve an economy of scale. What does Fusion Advisor Network, recently acquired by NFP, have to do with this roll-up model? Fusion may have been a “feeder group” of potential buyout partners with NFP, said Jonathan Henschen, a recruiter with Henschen & Associates. “These guys were kind of seed corn for future clients for the buyout partnership,” Henschen said. According to Henschen, NFP buyout partnership program involves buying $1 million producing reps with around $100 million in assets, primarily fee-based. The reps get 125 percent of trailing revenue up front, a 50 percent payout ongoing,...