Cetera nabs giant office from Securities America

The Patriot Financial Group, based in a suburb of Boston, works with 70 financial advisors who have $2.5 billion in client assets.

The ongoing fight for control of giant branch offices registered at independent broker-dealers rolled into 2023 as Cetera Financial Group announced this week that it had recruited an office with $2.5 billion in assets from rival Securities America Inc., the largest broker-dealer in the Advisor Group network.

The office, The Patriot Financial Group, is based in a suburb of Boston and works with 70 financial advisors, who moved their securities and industry registration to Cetera Financial Specialists starting last month, according to a search of executives’ BrokerCheck reports.

According to its Form ADV, about $1.15 billion of The Patriot Financial Group’s assets are parked at its registered investment advisor, making it a large RIA enterprise for a brokerage firm.

2022 saw a significant development in the consolidation of the wealth management industry: Independent broker-dealers began competing with private equity-backed aggregators of registered investment advisors to purchase or invest in giant offices of advisors, with several IBDs making investments in giant branch offices of advisors already registered with the firm.

Such offices are often referred to as offices of supervisory jurisdiction, or Super OSJs.

“The recruiting Super OSJ model is a double-edged sword,” said Jodie Papike, president of Cross-Search, a recruiting firm. “A lot of broker-dealers support the recruiting at the branch, but the firms have to keep the heads of those Super OSJs happy — or run the risk they move to another brokerage firm.”

“Like Cetera, we are agnostic about how our advisors affiliate their business to deliver the best service, solutions and guidance,” Michael Tashjian, CEO of The Patriot Financial Group, said in a statement. “We believe that this model provides a powerful combination of options that will serve our advisors and their clients well for years to come.”

At the end of last year, Cetera Financial Group controlled about $322 billion in assets, according to the company.