2017 to be year of independent broker-dealer mergers
Jan 22, 2017 @ 12:01 am | by Bruce Kelly | InvestmentNews.com
If past is prologue, 2017 should see a steady pace of independent broker-dealer consolidation and mergers and acquisitions.
Last year saw transactions involving firms that house thousands of registered reps and financial advisers as the industry scrambled to deal with the costly and burdensome preparation for the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule for clients’ retirement accounts.
The deals in 2016 ranged from the biggest names in the industry to more modest firms. Giant companies like the insurer American International Group Inc., with 5,000 retail advisers at AIG Advisor Group, got out of the business, while a midsize, rep-owned firm with 220 advisers, Foothill Securities, was acquired by Securities America Inc., part of the Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. network of firms.
