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Cetera Closes Broker-Dealer First Allied Securities

15:05 12 December in In the News by rafferty

December 7, 2022 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News San Diego-based First Allied had close to 600 brokers and financial advisers under its roof before the Covid-19 pandemic.   First Allied Securities Inc., which was open for almost 30 years and involved in a series of high-profile transactions in that time, said at the end of last month that it had closed, according to its BrokerCheck profile. Part of the Cetera Financial Group network of broker-dealers, which is owned by private equity manager Genstar Capital, First Allied Securities was based in San Diego. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, it had close to 600 brokers and financial advisers under its roof who generated an average of $263,000 in annual fees and commissions in 2018, according to the most recent data available from InvestmentNews Research. “First Allied is no longer a separate...

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Are independent wealth managers that punish exiting financial advisors really independent?

12:53 02 November in In the News by rafferty

October 28, 2022 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   Are independent wealth managers that punish exiting financial advisors really independent? After being diagnosed with a brain tumor, fighting in arbitration with a fellow advisor and their employer, Commonwealth Financial Network, and winning a $175,000 defamation award from the brokerage, financial advisor James “Jay” Womack said he spent nearly $200,000 on the legal case.   The cost was worth it, he said. Womack accused Commonwealth and the other advisor, with whom he worked closely, of collaborating to thwart a succession plan for his practice and taking over his book of clients. Commonwealth, Womack alleged in FINRA arbitration, defamed him by falsely telling his customers that he had made misrepresentations about the credit quality of bonds held by “an elderly client” and in a state unemployment benefits claim, along with...

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Kestra Sells Minority to Private Equity Firm Oak Hill Capitol

13:30 10 October in In the News by rafferty

October 6, 2022 By Tobias Salinger, Financial Planning   An independent wealth manager that’s notching notable recruiting gains in an industry dominated by the giants picked up its latest private equity bet on the future growth of the firm. Kestra Holdings — the Austin, Texas-based parent company of wealth managers Kestra Financial and Grove Point Financial and their 2,400 financial advisors with $122 billion in client assets — added a new minority investor on Sept. 30 when Oak Hill Capital purchased the stake in the firm previously held by funds managed by Stone Point Capital. Firms once near to Kestra in size such as Signator Investors, Voya Financial Advisors and Waddell & Reed have merged into giants like Advisor Group, Cetera Financial Group and LPL Financial in recent years. In contrast, Kestra has built its own footprint steadily since the Stone Point...