In the News

Want a Big Paycheck to Switch BDs? Beware the True Price

November 7, 2013
By Savita Iyer-Ahrestani, ThinkAdvisor

How much importance do advisors give to upfront compensation when considering a move from one broker-dealer to another?

At a time when the data shows that the population of financial advisors is both shrinking and aging, it can be tempting to accept the more lucrative packages that wirehouses, banks and even regional firms are offering to brokers looking to switch firms, particularly given the expenses of starting an independent advisory firm.

But the better the deal, the more onerous the commitment, says Mark Elzweig, president and founder of the executive search firm Mark Elzweig Co.

Elzweig, who participated in a panel discussion titled “Recruiting Deals by Channels” during ThinkAdvisor’s Going Independent virtual conference,

John Sykes’ JHS Capital Advisors challenged by annual losses, handful of Finra arbitration claims

November 6, 2013
By Bruce Kelly, Investment News

Backed with hundreds of millions of dollars from owning a call center business, John Sykes entered the independent broker-dealer industry in the perilous market of 2008 brimming with confidence, brio and optimism.

It has been a struggle ever since that heady time for Mr. Sykes, who in January 2009 compared the potential of his first broker-dealer holding company, GunnAllen Holdings Inc., with industry stalwart Raymond James Financial Inc., both of which are based in the Tampa Bay, Fla., region.

But crushed by a burden of client litigation and failed investments, GunnAllen Financial Inc., the holding company’s broker-dealer,

NEXT Financial Seen as Ripe for Schorsch’s Next Big Buy

November 5, 2013 By
Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor

Industry experts say there’s plenty of chatter in the independent broker-dealer space about the likelihood that NEXT Financial is next on the “to buy” list of real-estate mogul Nicholas Schorsch.

Schorsch leads RCS Capital Corp., which just gobbled up independent broker-dealer Investor’s Capital (ICH), and American Realty Capital, which recently announced plans to buy Cole Real Estate Investments.

In September, Larry Roth — formerly head of the AIG-owned Advisor Group of IBDs — became president and CEO of Realty Capital Securities (RCS), owned by Schorsch’s RCAP Holdings. This executive appointment was made on the heels of RCAP’s purchase of another IBD,