In the News

Multi-Financial Comes Out of Hiding With Big Growth Plans

by Diana Britton and featured in Registered Rep
April, 2011:

Independent broker-dealer Multi-Financial is undergoing a major growth initiative, ramping up its recruiting, wealth management platform capabilities and practice management services, said President and CEO Brett Harrison. Recruiting is already up 900 percent from last year, and the firm has brought on $9 million in production in the past five months, and plans to add $20 million in total production this year.

Under the IBD’s former parent, ING, Multi-Financial stayed under the radar, Harrison said. At ING, the firm was not encouraged to do much advertising and marketing. “We’ve been quiet for years.”

In November 2009, Lightyear Capital announced its plan to purchase the three broker/dealers—Multi-Financial, Financial Network and PrimeVest Financial—from insurance company ING and renamed the group Cetera Financial Group.

Hybrid Hustle

by Diana Britton and featured in Registered Rep
April, 2011:

Independent broker/dealers have lately been ramping up their efforts to attract hybrid advisors, launching new recruiting efforts and rolling out integrated commission and fee-based platforms and hybrid-specific services. Meanwhile, two major custodians released reports about the importance of the hybrid market — defined as those firms that operate an independent RIA and have a broker/dealer affiliation — in the past several weeks.

Hybrid advisors still represent a small segment of the business, accounting for only about 5 percent of all advisors, but that number should rise to around 8 percent by 2014, according to Cerulli Associates. Cerulli projects total hybrid headcount will grow 11.8 percent this year to about 15,830 advisors.

“Broker/dealers who do not carefully evaluate the hybrid opportunity run the risk of being at a competitive and economic disadvantage,” said Jim Roth,

Wall Street Financial Group’s Joe Richard – It’s a Flexible, Selective Recruiting Environment

by John Sullivan and featured in AdvisorOne
March, 2011:

“The difference is we’re smaller,” says Joe Richard when asked what, specifically, Wall Street Financial Group does better than anyone else. Their size, he asserts, allows for a flexibility and selectiveness that’s difficult to find at a larger firm. And of course it’s about the culture; a family atmosphere where he knows each rep and knows them well. This means they don’t look to traditional recruiting sources, and that suits them just fine.

Richard, a veteran of the wholesaling side of the business, has been with the firm for nine years. He sat down with Investment Advisor for a candid chat about life at a small,