After bulking up its recruiting team last year, Cetera Financial Group has just picked up a major team from a rival that includes two 20-year veteran financial advisors.
Michael Breard and Ray Hays of Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Hays Breard Financial Group, left LPL Financial to align with Cetera Advisor Networks as their brokerage and Summit Financial Networks as their “region” or office of supervisory jurisdiction, the firm said on March 24. Summit, a former brokerage,
Hays Breard managed $327 million in assets with its prior firm. In 2021, Cetera added more than a dozen new executives and other team members to its groups of senior recruiters in the field and internal lead sourcing and engagement staff. Those new recruiters came from other competitors such as Kestra Financial, Ameriprise and Raymond James, according to John Pierce, the firm’s head of business development. Last year, incoming teams of advisors brought in $11 billion in combined client assets and $650,000 in average annual production.
Even with the coronavirus receding, there’s still an “overhang” that’s currently affecting teams’ moves, Pierce said in an interview earlier this month.
“We are talking to the same number or more financial professionals than I did last year,” he said. “People are now getting back to their lives. They're getting back to the office. They're getting back to whatever is the new normal for them. They're still going to move, it's just taking longer now that they're back to the new normal.”
Representatives for LPL didn’t respond to a request for comment on Hays Breard’s departure after 13 years with the firm. The team’s exit comes as one notable loss that contrasts with the firm’s substantial growth in its advisor headcount, which has set records in recent successive quarters. In 2021, the number of LPL registered representatives with the firm
Change agents
Even after a team spends significant time with an independent brokerage, dissatisfaction can arise from difficulties getting a client’s question answered in a timely manner, changes to technology systems or management personnel — or even challenges with calculating compensation each quarter, according to Samantha Sferas, vice president of business development for recruiting firm Terrana Group.
“This business is driven by relationships,” Sferas said. “We have advisors that may look at selling their practice. The first thing I hear them always say is, ‘I want to make sure our clients are taken care of.’ It’s an extension of their family; it's a professional family.”
Hays Breard fosters that dynamic with clients and Baton Rouge residents through its annual 1,500-pound crawfish boil. In addition to the two founding advisors, the team includes operations manager Anna Bevins, wealth advisor Patrick Cavanaugh and administrative assistant Jennifer Gosnay. Prior to the founders’ 13 years with LPL, they each had tenures with Ameriprise and affiliated with predecessor firm IDS Life Insurance.
“We have a vision of who we want to be as a group and how we want to work with our clients,” Breard and Hays said in a statement. “Our clients are looking for a high level of service, technology and knowledge and we feel partnering with Cetera and Summit Financial Networks puts us in the perfect place to provide that for them.”
