Despite parent's bankruptcy, Cetera recruits $200 million team

Despite a bankruptcy filing by its parent company, Cetera Financial Group on Wednesday morning announced it had recruited Empire Asset Management Group, an upstate New York team with $200 million in client assets. Cetera Financial Group's parent company, RCS Capital Corp., at the end of January filed for a pre-arranged, Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, in which its debt would be converted to equity in Cetera, a network of 10 independent broker-dealers with close to 9,000 registered reps and advisers. Cetera expects to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of next month as a privately held company controlled by its institutional investors. “Choosing Cetera reflects the strength of our value proposition, as well as the strong progress we continue to make in transforming into a privately held, independent organization exclusively dedicated to the advisers and institutions we support,” said Cetera Financial Group CEO Larry Roth in a statement. The two advisers leading Empire Asset Management Group, Brad Konopaske and Paul Paska, were formerly registered with Northern Lights Distributors, a broker-dealer that specializes in mutual fund distribution. According to BrokerCheck, Mr. Konopaske and Mr. Paska have been registered with Cetera Advisor Networks since December. As part of the move, Empire, which is based in Albany, N.Y., will work under Harvey Bowks, a regional manager commonly dubbed in the independent broker-dealer industry as a super OSJ, or office of supervisory jurisdiction.