Cetera sees 9% of Securian advisors bolt after acquisition

Over the first half of 2023, Securian Financial Services Inc., the broker-dealer and registered investment advisor that was part of the wealth management business of Securian Financial Group, has seen 95 of its more than 1,000 financial advisors leave the firm to join competitors, according to InvestmentNews data.

The advisor departures from Securian come after Cetera Financial Group announced in January that it was acquiring Securian's wealth business for an undisclosed sum, in a deal scheduled to close sometime in the third quarter.

In May, InvestmentNews reported that 43 financial advisors had left Securian, so the pace of advisors leaving the firm for another broker-dealer appears to have picked up slightly. Competitors typically swarm on financial advisors of a firm that is being acquired.

At the time the sale to Cetera was announced, Securian's wealth business included more than 1,000 advisors who oversee $24.8 billion in assets under management and $47.4 billion in assets under administration.

The top broker-dealers recruiting the Securian advisors over the first half of the year were: LPL Financial, with 21; Raymond James Financial Services Inc., with 19; StanCorp Equities Inc., 13; and Commonwealth Financial Network, 11.

Those four firms recruited two-thirds of the advisors who have left Securian so far this year.

It's no wonder the Securian advisors would be so highly prized. In an interview over the winter, Cetera Financial CEO Adam Antoniades noted that the average production per advisor, meaning total annual fees and commissions, was in the range of $650,000 at Securian, which is more than double the figure at LPL Financial.

Meanwhile, industry recruiters who spoke confidentially to InvestmentNews noted that Cetera has been discussing retention bonuses with senior advisors and leaders at Securian, but that details of any deals were scant.

"Fewer than 10% of advisors have departed Securian this year, including advisors who were already in motion prior to announcement of the transaction with Cetera, and of those who left, nearly 80% had insignificant production," wrote a Cetera spokesperson in an email.  "As of June 30, retained assets are equal to or better than projected, and we believe these are industry leading retention metrics for acquisitions of this type."

In June, Foundations Financial Partners, an advisory firm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, that oversees $881 million in assets and had been affiliated with Securian Financial Services for 32 years, joined Commonwealth Financial Network.

“We wanted to go where service and technology are consistently commended,” the firm's president and managing partner Christopher Hackley said in a statement. “And Commonwealth aligns well with my model for developing and training younger advisors and implementing our succession plans. 

Hackley did not return a call on Monday to comment further.

Cetera Financial Group, a giant network of broker-dealers and RIAs, at the end of March reported more than 8,000 financial advisors, $330 billion in assets under administration and $116 billion of assets under management.