Advisor Group Tag

Cetera warns broker that M&A deals require its approval

14:13 29 March in In the News by rafferty

March 27, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning Cetera Financial Group is telling its thousands of independent brokers that any sales of their own businesses must be approved by the corporate compliance office. Not doing so could lead to potential FINRA enforcement cases, according to the message sent last fall by the Los Angeles-based wealth management firm’s compliance division. Financial Planning obtained a copy of the email blast, which has not been previously reported. The message, marked “confidential,” could come as a harsh warning to any financial advisor who may seek to take assets off Cetera’s platforms when tapping into the ongoing massive M&A transactions across the industry or finding a succession partner. The correspondence carries major implications for independent brokers, who have in many cases left wirehouses in order to operate their own businesses more with more flexibility...

Kestra’s debt is soaring. How will that affect its advisor recruiting?

16:01 17 March in In the News by rafferty

March 16, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   Kestra Holdings nearly doubled its debt and interest payments on those liabilities after adding a new private equity investor last year, a new ratings agency report found. The company’s debt load jumped 87% over 14 months to around $850 million, and the service payments alone will soar by the same percentage in 2023 — compared to the 12 months that ended in the third quarter — to $84 million, according to a March 8 “credit opinion” report by Moody’s Investors Service. At the end of last September, the Austin, Texas-based independent wealth management company received a minority investment of undisclosed size from private equity firm Oak Hill Capital buying Stone Point Capital’s stake and joining majority Kestra owner Warburg Pincus. As part of a December issuance of debt notes, Kestra...

Independent Cetera team fighting Avantax ‘trade secret’ lawsuit

14:42 06 March in In the News by rafferty

March 2, 2023 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   A simmering legal feud between two of the largest tax-focused wealth management firms underscores the shifting challenges for independent financial advisors who switch brokerages  — and the industry’s scrutiny of LinkedIn posts. A previously-unreported lawsuit filed by the parent firm of Avantax Wealth Management cited a LinkedIn post by Brian Stern, the co-founder of Farpointe Wealth Partners, a branch that moved from Avantax to Cetera, as evidence of a “conspiracy” to recruit Avantax advisors to follow Stern to rival brokerage Cetera Financial Specialists. The complaint, filed in December 2021, alleges that Stern, three other Farpointe executives and Cetera wrongfully used “confidential/trade secret” information as part of the effort. Court papers in the case cite a photo on Stern’s LinkedIn page depicting about 20 former Avantax advisors at Farpointe’s conference in San...