Cetera closes deal for Genworth

Cetera Financial Group completed the acquisition of Genworth Financial Investment Services Inc. yesterday, bringing in about 1,800 financial advisers managing $13 billion in assets. Genworth, which focuses on tax and accounting professionals who provide financial advice, is Cetera's fourth broker-dealer. It will remain a separate firm within the company. “We're committed to supporting the multiple faces of independence in the advisory industry,” said Cetera chief executive Valerie Brown. “CPAs and tax professionals are in a great position to be financial quarterbacks for their clients. Genworth is different from our other firms and will remain a stand-alone broker.” One significant difference between Genworth and Cetera's other broker-dealers is the level of training support the firm offers its advisers, Ms. Brown said. The firm organizes about 375 training events a year for its advisers. While integrating acquisitions directly into the firm might yield better immediate cost savings, Ms. Brown said that allowing firms to retain more independence has its own benefits. “We don't believe that one size fits all. What we might give up in scale we gain in supporting advisers in the way that they want,” Ms. Brown said. “We believe we can help them grow their practices faster.” The acquisition of Genworth brings the total number of advisers at Cetera to more than 6,500, and the firm now manages about $94 billion in assets, according to company spokesman Jayson Hron. The three other broker-dealers owned by Cetera are Financial Network Investment Corp., Multi-Financial Securities Corp. and PrimeVest Financial Services Inc. Cetera plans to establish a new name for Genworth in the next several months. Cetera was formed in 2010 when private-equity firm Lightyear Capital LLC purchased three brokerages from ING Groep NV. Lightyear was launched in 2000 by Donald Marron, who was chief executive of Paine Webber between 1980 and 2000.