$7.7 Billion Broker-Dealer To Wind Down, Affiliate With Cetera Hybrid

A $7.7 billion San Diego firm is leaving the broker-dealer business. Los Angeles-based Cetera Financial Group has announced that one of its broker-dealer affiliates, Girard Securities, will become an independent advisor group named Girard Region. Susie Woltman Tietjen, Girard Securities CEO, will become regional director of the Girard team going forward. “We’re excited about the opportunity to leapfrog as a company in a way that we probably couldn’t have done if we weren’t a private business,” says Tietjen. “This industry is going through a strategic inflection point, we think Cetera has grabbed ahold of that, and this is an opportunity for us to be a leader.” With the transition, Girard and its 200 advisors become a new “region,” a team roughly equivalent to an office of supervisory jurisdiction, within Cetera Financial Group’s hybrid subsidiary, Cetera Advisor Networks. Since Girard is transitioning between Cetera’s networks, the move should occur “seamlessly” and that the Girard Securities broker-dealer will start to wind-down operations in early November, subject to Finra approval.

from FA News http://www.fa-mag.com/news/-7-7-billion-broker-dealer-to-wind-down--affiliate-with-cetera-hybrid-34197.html