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Securities America loses top executive to Carson Group

16:41 23 October in In the News by rafferty

October 22, 2020 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News The departure of Kevin Miller, formerly executive vice president, adds to a growing list of high-level employees to leave the firm in recent months As the Advisor Group network consolidates some of its broker-dealers, Securities America Inc., one of the largest independent-contractor broker-dealers in the industry, is seeing a handful of senior and second-tier employees jump ship. The most senior executive to leave Securities America is Kevin Miller, formerly executive vice president and general counsel. After more than 20 years at Securities America, he is now working at the Carson Group, according to Ron Carson, CEO and founder of the $13 billion network of advisory firms. The exact timing of his departure was not clear. Advisor Group said in May it was shutting down three of the...

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Recapitalization? SPACs? Cetera’s PE backer shares long-term plans

16:31 16 October in In the News by rafferty

October 15, 2020 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning Excerpt: Cetera is “a flywheel; It just keeps getting better and better,” Tony Salewski, a Genstar managing partner and Cetera board member, said at a virtual event for advisors this week. “It's a business that we want to hold for a very long time.” Salewski noted that his PE firm’s investments typically carry a five- to 10-year timeline. He also mentioned last year’s Mercer Advisors recapitalization deal between Genstar, Lovell Minnick Partners and Oak Hill Capital. Genstar sold Mercer “to ourselves in a new fund” in order to extend “from that initial five years to re-underwriting another 10 years,” Salewski said. The message comes as the Los Angeles-based independent broker-dealer network and other large wealth managers face reduced business under the low interest rates triggered by the economic toll of the...

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Avantax imposes new fee on held-away accounts

15:11 14 October in In the News by rafferty

October 13, 2020 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News The new charges will be levied on a popular pathway for advisers to conduct business directly with mutual fund companies Avantax Investment Services Inc., which caters to advisers who are tax professionals, is in the process of levying a new $60 annual fee for advisers’ accounts at outside money managers, a popular way for advisers to conduct business directly with mutual fund companies like American Funds. Called direct to fund, or DTF by advisers, the method is a simple way for advisers to sell mutual funds to clients. The new fee by Avantax, while only $15 per quarter, could cost some advisers thousands of dollars each year because some of the firm’s leading advisers have hundreds of such accounts. The new charge is scheduled to hit the...

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Cambridge buys small broker-dealer with $4 billion in assets

17:03 11 October in In the News by rafferty

September 30, 2020 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News The deal comes as mergers and acquisitions in the brokerage industry have slowed to a crawl due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 While registered reps and financial advisers have continued to move to new firms, albeit at a much slower pace during the COVID-19 pandemic, broker-dealer acquisitions have curtailed dramatically since March. That market may be thawing, with Cambridge Investment Research Inc. on Wednesday saying it had purchased a small broker-dealer, FCG Advisors in New Jersey, with nearly $4 billion in assets, 19 reps and advisers and $9 million in annual revenues. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. FCG Advisors will operate as a branch, or separate enterprise, at Cambridge. John Combias, founder and managing director of FCG Advisors, will continue to lead the group. Broker-dealer mergers and...