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Articles Written by Jon Henschen

ThinkAdvisor

DOL Fiduciary Rule Will Accelerate Broker-Dealer Closings

16:55 22 February in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

February 22, 2016

By Jon Henschen, as featured on ThinkAdvisor and FSI NewsBrief

 

Since 2008, we’ve seen a steep and consistent drop in the number of broker-dealers. As reported by data aggregator Fishbowl Strategies, we were down to 4,578 BDs in 2010. By February of 2014, that number was down to 4,181. We ended 2015 with 4,034 broker-dealers, with the largest segment of firms closing by far being equity trading firms. September 2015 turned out to be a false flag of hope where we had 14 new firms admitted and only 5 firms withdrew. Nevertheless, fourth quarter results continued the downward trend.

Looking at the fourth quarter of 2015, we had 16 new firms that were admitted and 53 firms that withdrew.

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ThinkAdvisor

4 Factors That May Cause a Flood of Broker-Dealer Sales

17:40 07 December in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

December 4, 2015

By Jon Henschen, as featured on ThinkAdvisor

 

With 9,500 Cetera Financial Group reps, 470 NEXT Financial Group reps and 4,925 AIG Advisor Group reps looking to “get bought,” we may be headed for a floodtide of broker-dealer sales as prospects for their future profitability fade.

The current motives to sell are unique to these particular firms, with Cetera needing to either partially or fully sell its broker-dealers to generate revenue to cover its debt load, activist investor Carl Icahn wanting AIG to split up into three entities and focus on core business while NEXT Financial, a rep-owned broker-dealer, is looking for a liquidity event.

When firms look out over the next five years, many may determine that the risk-reward model has the risks pulling ahead,

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Stock Jocks Get Their Knocks at BDs

19:20 12 November in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

November 12, 2015

By Jon Henschen, as featured on ThinkAdvisor

 

While reminiscing about the early 1990s and my brokering days at Prudential Securities, I was reminded how much has changed in our industry. Back in the day, my branch manager in Pasadena, California was a wealth of wisdom. I took advantage of his open door policy, frequenting his office with the many questions that come with being a newer representative.

By today’s standards some of what he shared would be shocking, such as, “If a rep doesn’t have a couple of dings on his compliance record he’s probably not aggressive enough,” or “Reps that have cocaine problems are usually substantial producers because they are insecure and driven,” or one of my favorites,

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