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John Hancock swims against the tide, doubles down on independent broker-dealer business

19:52 23 June in In the News by rafferty

June 23, 2016 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News     Unlike many insurance companies who are fleeing the high-risk, thin-margin independent broker-dealer business, John Hancock Financial Network, through its independent broker-dealer, Signator Investors Inc., has doubled down on its commitment. Signator in May closed on its deal to acquire 883 registered reps and advisers from Transamerica. Those former Transamerica advisers have $25 billion in client assets and Signator now has close to $50 billion in assets under management, according to Brian Heapps, John Hancock Financial Network's president. After cutting about 200 low producers and adding the former Transamerica advisers, Signator now has close to 2,200 advisers under its roof, almost double what it had before. The average production of its advisers has increased from $125,000 to $175,000 after these moves, Mr. Heapps noted. And Signator will continue...

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Which Broker-Dealers Will Survive? Malcolm Gladwell Offers Some Answers

16:09 16 June in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

June 16, 2016 By Jon Henschen, as featured on ThinkAdvisor   Determining the ideal elementary school class size has been a hotly debated topic for a number of years. The prevailing wisdom is that smaller is better. But is that always true? In his book “David and Goliath,” author Malcolm Gladwell uses the “Inverted U Curve Principle” to demonstrate the ideal class size. I’d argue that the U Curve provides interesting insights into the ideal size for a broker-dealer, and suggests which BDs will survive in the current market and regulatory atmosphere. But first, let’s explore Gladwell’s research. Gladwell explains that there are three parts to the inverted U curve, and each part follows a different logic. On the left side of the curve, doing more or having more makes things better. On the flat middle, doing...

Appointment of former LPL exec Robert Moore to Cetera’s board could help embattled B-D restore its brand

18:54 21 May in In the News by rafferty

May 20, 2016 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News People inside and outside the company say word of the new chairman has already given a lift to morale of advisers The pending appointment of Robert Moore, an experienced broker-dealer executive, to serve as chairman of Cetera Financial Group, could help the embattled B-D restore its brand and has already given a lift to the morale of its advisers, according to people both inside and outside the company. A source familiar with Cetera's plans told InvestmentNews this week that Mr. Moore, the former president of the nation's largest independent broker-dealer, LPL Financial, would be named non-executive chairman in the coming weeks as the board is revamped. Cetera moved one step closer to implementing those plans Thursday after its parent company, RCS Capital Corp., or RCAP, won court approval for its bankruptcy plan....