Cetera's job cuts to reduce 5% of staff

After InvestmentNews reported last week that Cetera Financial Group, a giant broker-dealer and registered investment advisor network, was expected to make job cuts to staff this year, it turns out the layoffs occurred in two rounds, last Tuesday and Thursday, and totaled 130 to 150 employees, according to a senior industry executive who spoke privately about the matter. 

A Cetera spokerson noted that there were no workforce reductions earlier in 2025 and all the cuts came last week. The spokesperson added that there was little to no impact on advisor-facing roles regarding the recent small reduction in the firm's workforce. 

InvestmentNews reported last year that Cetera had 2,400 employees. That means last week’s cuts are roughly a 5% reduction in Cetera’s staff, including administrative and analytics employees, according to the executive.

Cetera Financial Group, with close to 12,000 financial advisors who work with more than $545 billion in asset under administration and $235 billion in assets under management, is owned by private equity investor Genstar.

“The firm made the layoffs first and then informed the managers that the cuts happened,” said the executive. “Private equity firms are focused on expenses, so I’m not surprised.”

Cetera Financial Group has recently seen some significant changes that would make job cuts for home office staff seem inevitable.

Cetera has recently been buying large broker-dealers, creating overlap in back office jobs such as technology, compliance and marketing.

For example, in November 2023, Cetera completed its acquisition of Avantax Inc., with close to 3,000 financial advisors who focus on clients' taxes, for $1.2 billion in an all-cash deal.

In August of 2023, Cetera completed its purchase of the wealth business of insurer Securian Financial Group, bringing on board more than 91% of Securian’s advisors and nearly $50 billion in client assets.

Prior to that, in 2021, Cetera acquired the brokerage and advisory assets of Voya Financial Advisors, which had close to 900 advisors and $40 billion in assets at the time.

Owning a handful of large broker-dealers creates overlap in jobs and staff, industry observers noted. Meanwhile, in 2023 Fidelity veteran Mike Durbin was tapped to be CEO of the holding company, and a year later Durbin replaced longtime broker-dealer network CEO, Adam Antoniades.

With the broad stock market in decline at the start of 2025, on top of the uncertainty caused by President  DonaldTrump’s global trade and tariff battles, some large financial advice firms appear ready to cut staff and potentially reduce costs.

Morgan Stanley in March was considering cutting close to 2,000 employees, according to a report by Bloomberg News. And Edward Jones in March also said it was cutting home office workers at its St. Louis headquarters as a result of a companywide restructuring.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story reported Cetera had made job cuts last week as well as in January. Per the company, both rounds occurred last week.