Advisor Group makes rebranding campaign official

Advisor Group will merge its eight affiliated broker-dealers under a single, yet-to-be named brand in a process that will take two years, it announced Wednesday.

The company hasn't decided on a name, although it won't be One Advisor Group, said Jen Roche, Advisor Group's executive vice president of marketing and communications.

It was already known that the firm was considering rebranding and consolidating its wealth management units, but the announcement Wednesday made it official. Earlier this month, multiple sources had indicated that the firm was favoring the name One Advisor Group — but that option as of now has been nixed.

“The idea is to go to a new brand that is not part of any of our legacy brands or firms,” Roche said.

Advisor Group will announce the new name later this year, and each of the eight broker-dealers will be rolled into it over the course of 18 to 24 months. That transition will not require repapering of accounts, but it will give the firm's financial professionals “access to the full breadth of community and expertise our scale provides without the complexities that multiple legal entities can impose," CEO Jamie Price said in the announcement. “Our current business model has been successful to date, but as the industry landscape continues to evolve, simultaneously maintaining a series of divergent brands no longer supports a best-in-class experience for our financial professionals or their clients.”

Held-away accounts at outside money managers, including turnkey asset management programs, “will need to follow the procedures of the third parties to transfer,” the company said, adding that it is “leveraging its partnership with those parties to work toward a seamless transition.”

Putting the firm’s 11,000 advisors under one roof will result in smoother business continuity, succession and acquisition planning for them, Advisor Group said. Operating one entity at scale will also help improve service and support, compliance, technology and peer-to-peer sharing, it noted.

The eight firms it encompasses are American Portfolios, FSC Securities, Infinex Investments, Royal Alliance Associates, SagePoint Financial, Securities America, Triad Advisors and Woodbury Financial Services. 

“For new recruits, it will streamline the recruitment, affiliation and account transfer process,” Price said in the announcement. “During a financial professional's growth years, it will enable us to deliver consistently high-quality business building resources and support, which includes dedicating our resources and support to a more personalized approach aligned to the advisor's business model. And when the time comes to retire, we've removed barriers so a financial professional can sell a practice to an expanded pool of potential internal buyers.”

The process is about “creating a long-term home for advisors to grow and thrive,” Roche said.

The private equity-owned firm is also likely considering an initial public offering, similar to the path LPL Financial Holdings took to its IPO in 2010.

In 2019, Reverence Capital Partners agreed to buy 75% of Advisor Group, with existing shareholders Lightyear Capital, PSP Investments and other retaining up to 25%.

Although the consolidation of the eight broker-dealers stands to increase efficiency, “this is not a cost-cutting exercise,” said Greg Cornick, president of advice and wealth management at Advisor Group. Head count and locations won't be affected by the rebranding effort, he said.

Rather, the consolidation strategy will help the firm’s advisors grow and benefit from its scale, he said.

“This doesn’t really have anything to do with whether we decide to go public or not,” Cornick said. “Regardless of whatever we do there, we would be doing this [rebranding] as part of our strategy.”