About 11,000 financial advisors managing nearly $500 billion in client assets will be moving to a new brokerage and registered investment advisory firm called Osaic.
Phoenix-based Advisor Group
After no shortage of speculation regarding
The transition marks a test for the firm, which is reversing course on
"We developed the Osaic brand as a reflection of who we are, and most importantly, who we want to be, and as a promise to the advisors we serve and will serve in the future," CEO Jamie Price said at a brief livestream event announcing the new name.
"As we went through the brand and naming process, we decided early on to go with a brand that can be uniquely ours, a name that wasn't a recognized word or a combination of words, because we wanted something that, again, was ours and that stood for who only we wanted to be and where we would be in the future," he added. "This brand pulls together our heritage, our history, our scale, our multiple capabilities, and our diversity of thought and background into one beautiful picture. It's the perfect confluence of everything we are today and everything we will leverage to become who we want to be in the future."
In addition to the green, tan and fluorescent yellow colors of a new logo, Price's team also disclosed the timeline for each of the eight firms to join Osaic.
Royal Alliance effectively rebranded on the day of the announcement, with incremental changes to client accounts leading to a full transition of clearing systems by Aug. 7. SagePoint's first day doing business under the new name is scheduled for Sept. 5. FSC will operate as Osaic by Nov. 6, with Infinex going live under the moniker a week later. Woodbury's migration stretches into next year, as its first day as Osaic is slated for Jan. 22. The remaining three firms, Securities America, Triad Advisors and American Portfolios, are moving to Osaic after tax season between the second and fourth quarters of 2024.
Customers holding their accounts directly on the firms' platforms will see those assets move without needing to sign any documents, while those using third-party money managers must follow a series of transfer protocols that the firm has promised to make as easy as possible.
The firm's new name emerged from hundreds of discussions with advisors, branding agency Sullivan NYC and among senior executives at the firm, according to Jen Roche, Advisor Group's executive vice president of marketing and communications. Each member of the team tasked with the naming picked "Osaic" in their top three choices, she said.
"We knew it conveyed what we are and what we want to be," Roche said. "We chose to create a brand with a coined name, as Jamie said, rather than a known word, because we wanted something fresh and new, something we could fill and make our own. And this is just the beginning. Osaic was created with some very specific thematic elements and philosophies in mind, but it's also a clean slate. So we get to evolve it together. And at the end of the day, our brand is emblematic of our partnership, and we will rely on our partners to continue to build the brand with us."
The firm has morphed into a much different and bigger version of itself than when Price
It reached its current scale after Reverence Capital
"We believe that financial professionals are transforming lives," Cornick said. "To that end, our brand was built with their end client in mind, because we know that's who matters, and that when they thrive, we all thrive. Another element that came from the research is that thriving is about more than just business. It's about reaching your full potential and finding strength and belonging. The mission and promise underlying Osaic is that we will leverage our scale, resources and expertise to help our financial professionals reach their full potential as people, as business leaders and as partners to their clients."
