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Articles / Resources

Sale of AIG Advisor Group Seems Doubtful as Reps Head for Exits

00:00 01 June in In the News by rafferty

by Josh Kosman and featured in New York Post June, 2009: American International Group's efforts to sell its broker-dealer business, AIG Advisor Group, have hit a snag -- and it's causing jitters among the firm's 6,000 representatives and financial advisers. Division CEO Arthur Tambaro in April said that AIG was in final discussions with a potential buyer. But two months later, no deal has been struck. What's more, two sources told The Post that mutual-fund giant Fidelity Investments considered providing financing for an unnamed bidder, but backed out. Fidelity declined to comment. The lack of a deal for AIG Advisor Group has already led to some departures among its staff, and some say if a deal isn't struck by year-end more than half of the company's employees may head for the exit....

Money In Motion

00:00 01 June in In the News by rafferty

by Jeff Schlegel and featured in Financial Advisor June, 2009: The demise of Wall Street as we knew it has led to a new conventional wisdom that goes something like this—the wirehouse broker-dealers are dead, long live the independents! As part of this upheaval, waves of disaffected advisors affiliated with wirehouses are expected to bolt their companies for mid-sized or smaller firms, accelerating a long-term trend. While reports on the death of the wirehouse brokerage firms are premature, news from the trenches indicates that advisors are switching firms—or at least inquiring about switching—in ever-larger numbers. “There’s certainly been an unprecedented number of bodies in motion right now,” says John Rooney, managing principal of Commonwealth Financial Network’s West Coast operations. “I’ve been in the business for 25 years and I’ve never seen this much...

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Patience Wears Thin for AIG Reps, Advisers

00:00 01 April in In the News by rafferty

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News April, 2009: After months of waiting for talks on the sale of the three broker-dealers that make up the AIG Advisor Group to be resolved, many of the more than 6,000 representatives and financial advisers in the network are growing anxious about their future. Meanwhile, last Wednesday, the chief executive and president of AIG broker-dealer Royal Alliance Associates Inc. of New York, Arthur Tambaro, sent a letter to that firm's reps and advisers that acknowledged that AIG was in the final stages of negotiations with a potential buyer, said one adviser affiliated with Royal Alliance. "The letter acknowledged that this was an extensive process and that there was significant interest from potential buyers," said Jeffrey Vahanian, president of Vahanian & Associates Financial Planning Inc. of Saratoga...

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Indie B-Ds Cast Wary Eye on Insurers

00:00 01 February in In the News by rafferty

by Darla Mercado and featured in Investment News February, 2009: Seeking to assess the strength of the insurance carriers they do business with, many smaller independent broker-dealers — flummoxed by the insurers' opaque balance sheets and arcane accounting practices — are relying on a time-tested tool: their own observations. They have noticed with alarm a rash of recent departures by insurance wholesalers, either due to the elimination of their jobs or through voluntary resignations, from some major carriers, including John Hancock Financial Services Inc. of Boston and The Hartford (Conn.) Financial Services Group. "I don't look kindly on companies that take out their wholesalers in a time like this. We could no longer do business with them if I didn't have the support right now when I need it the most for our...