Securities America is back on track

Securities America is back on track
B-D adds 'superbranch' but with thin annual production levels.
MAY 16, 2013
After wading through a host of legal problems and its sale, Securities America Inc. is back on the offense. Today, it announced that a heretofore independent broker-dealer with 130 affiliated reps and advisers is joining the firm as a superbranch. The new branch, until now the broker-dealer Investors Security Co. Inc. of Suffolk, Va., is a large producer of revenue, totaling $7.4 million for the fiscal year that ended in August. However, that translates into annual production of roughly $57,000 in fees and commissions per rep and adviser. And that's a level the clear majority of independent broker-dealers believe to be insufficient. Over the past decade, most independent broker-dealers have increased production requirements for advisers to at least $100,000 in fees and commissions annually, if not more. The national wirehouse firms, meanwhile, have the largest producers in the retail-securities industry, with minimum-production levels close to $500,000. The low level of average production per rep was offset somewhat by several factors, said Gregg Johnson, senior vice president of branch office development and acquisitions at Securities America. Investors Security is known as a “pretty good insurance shop,” and those sales don't appear in broker-dealer revenue, Mr. Johnson said. The reps are older and looking at offerings such as succession planning, doing more fee-based investment advisory business and using Securities America's coaching programs. The Investors Security announcement caps a year of other high-profile recruitments into the firm, Mr. Johnson said. Securities America has been in transition the past couple of years. Last year, it was acquired by Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., which bought the firm for $150 million from Ameriprise Financial Inc. Ameriprise sold the firm after reaching a wide-ranging settlement with Securities America investors who had sued the firm for sales of private-placement securities that the SEC alleged in 2009 were fraudulent. “We've gotten back to the volume and recruitment pipeline of before the market crash and the turmoil of 2008 and 2009,” Mr. Johnson said. In 2013, he said he expects other small broker-dealers such as Investors Security to be on the block.

Latest News

SEC begins onboarding DOGE staff, Reuters reports
SEC begins onboarding DOGE staff, Reuters reports

The agency is establishing a liaison team to partner with the efficiency task force on requests for network, systems, and data access.

Wealth Enhancement, Bluespring add new RIA partners
Wealth Enhancement, Bluespring add new RIA partners

The acquisitive firms' latest deals extend their presence with experienced teams in Texas and Wisconsin.

Blackstone buyout fund closes years late, billions short of initial goals
Blackstone buyout fund closes years late, billions short of initial goals

The alternative investment giant expects fundraising to wrap around the end of the month, effectively taking twice as long as peers that closed in the past year.

What Americans actually want in an advisory relationship
What Americans actually want in an advisory relationship

New research unpacks the top traits clients look for in an advisor, why some advice may leave people dissatisfied, and the factors that fuel trust.

Add Commonwealth Financial – a blockbuster – to the list of potential LPL targets
Add Commonwealth Financial – a blockbuster – to the list of potential LPL targets

Chatter about LPL, a behemoth, buying Commonwealth Financial Network, a boutique, has been building all week.

SPONSORED Retirement plan balances are flourishing. Why are so many advisors missing out on a $3 trillion opportunity?

Participants who receive professional 401(k) advice see higher returns on average, net, than those who don't.

SPONSORED Focus on clients, not compliance – why Gary Corderman found his fit with Farther

This wealth management platform finally delivers on the technology promises other firms couldn't - giving advisors a better way to scale and serve