In the News

Indie Reps Rewarded With Equity Participation

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News
June, 2007:

New York – In a bid to stand out among their peers and to be more competitive in the marketplace, an increasing number of small to midsize independent-contractor broker-dealers are offering sophisticated compensation plans, including stock ownership, to their affiliated registered representatives.

The firms that have offered sweetened compensation most recently are Investors Capital Corp. of Lynnfield, Mass., and Girard Securities Inc. of San Diego. The two firms reported $76.8 million and $33 million, respectively, in gross revenue last year.

They join the ranks of other such firms with sophisticated compensation plans, including American Portfolios Financial Services Inc. of Holbrook, N.Y., Cambridge Investment Research Inc. of Fairfield, Iowa, and NEXT Financial Group Inc.

LPL Deal Raises Questions

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News
March, 2007:

New York – LPL Financial Services Inc.’s plan to acquire three broker-dealers owned by Pacific Life Insurance Co. came as little surprise to many in the industry, though the deal has raised a few key questions, industry observers and advisers say.

Terms of the deal, which was announced March 1, were not disclosed, but numerous broker-dealer executives want to know the price Linsco/Private Ledger Corp. paid for Mutual Service Corp. of West Palm Beach, Fla., Associated Financial Group of Los Angeles and Waterstone Financial Group of Itasca, Ill. Having that information would help them to better understand the market for — and valuations associated with — mergers and acquisitions involving independent-contractor broker-dealers.

The second question is whether Linsco,

Co-Founder of ING Firm Jumps to NFP

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News
February, 2007:

New York – One of the founders of Financial Network Investment Corp., the largest independent-contractor broker-dealer in the ING Advisors Network Inc., walked out the door last month and joined NFP Securities Inc., leaving some observers to wonder how many registered representatives affiliated with FNIC eventually could follow.

Jerry Brown, one of the seven partners who started FNIC of El Segundo, Calif., more than 23 years ago with Miles Gordon, was a regional director in Seattle for FNIC and ran one of the firm’s largest group of producing brokers and advisers. At one time, he had as many as 100 reps and advisers in his shop, industry observer said, with an office that generated between $15 million and $20 million in gross dealer concession,