Here is Part 2 of Her Story

Something to prove

Over the past several months, Moore lost a significant amount of weight, the source noted. He also started insisting colleagues refer to him jocularly as “RJ,” instead of his long-used name “Bob.”

Mark Casady stepped down as CEO of LPL to found a venture capital fund.

His departure may also possibly have something to do with a falling out with Genstar, the source said.

The company offered only a brief comment in response. “RJ is stepping down as CEO of Cetera strictly for health reasons, as stated,” Cetera spokeswoman, Adriana Senior said in an email. “Beyond that, it is not our policy to comment.”

When Moore was hired, it’s unlikely anyone could have predicted this outcome.  With Genstar’s deep pockets, the newly minted CEO confidently boasted he would beat rival LPL Financial at its own game by developing bone crushing scale through a massive hiring spree.

Moore clearly had something to prove. After serving as LPL’s president, he was passed over to replace LPL CEO Mark Casady in 2016. The job went to Dan Arnold, and Moore left the firm for Cetera shortly afterward.  See: Sources: Larry Roth is out at Cetera, supplanted by ex-LPL president, Robert Moore

Under his leadership, Cetera appeared to hit the ground running. It reported three months after the Genstar sale that it had onboarded more than  $650 million in fresh brokerage and advisory assets. But soon after, those gains were wiped out by a series of LPL raids.

In a series of swift blows, LPL poached $4.5 billion in cumulatively managed assets and four separate RIAs. LPL’s biggest coup was the capture of $3.7 billion AUM Exemplar Financial Network, in Crystal Lake, Il.

Last April, LPL Financial declared a recruiting “war” against Cetera and two other broker-dealers. The fury and focus of the drive shocked recruiting firm principals and internal LPL-affiliated OSJ recruiters because of the way it’s singled out the firms.

The move at least raises a question whether Moore unnecessarily antagonized the massive broker-dealer. See: LPL Financial wages ‘war’ on Cetera, Securities America and Kestra after they pounced on NPH advisors in wake of sale

Even so, Cetera’s network recruited more than 800 advisors with $5.3 billion in client assets in 2018 under ex-LPL veteran, Michael Murray, who joined Cetera in May a year ago as head of business development.

Moore’s hurdles, however, extended beyond recruiting. He was also tasked with improving Cetera’s technology to attract reps. In Oct. 2016, he cut a sweeping deal with PIEtech Inc., that made its MoneyGuidePro and Best Interest Scout software available for license by its legion of brokers.

Michael Murray was a significant poach from rival LPL by Robert Moore at Cetera.

But this past February, news broke that advisors were growing frustrated with the slow roll out of technology initiatives. “They’d promise and promise and then miss the target date and miss the target date,” said one unnamed advisor.

“When we went to the annual meeting, they were talking about all this technology that they were going to be doing. We didn’t see that happen,” Kathleen Hansen told Wealth Management.  The founder of The Financial Planning Department, left Cetera for LPL last September.

Advisors also complained about failed promises over an equity sharing plan. Though the new owners allowed advisors to buy equity, the retention bonuses or equity grants that many expected never materialized.

As a result, some significant practices jumped to rival firms over the past two quarters of 2018, according to the report.

If there was a falling out with Genstar, it may involve the venture capital firm’s abortive bid to pay upwards of $1.3 billion to buy a majority stake in rival Advisor Group.

An executive quoted by Financial Advisor magazine said a merger would shave $100 million in expenses if it both operations were combined. Advisor Group’s umbrella covers four broker-dealers and Cetera has six.

Reports of the merger were rife enough to spur Advisor Group CEO Jamie Price to address the issue with employees in a letter. “We want to let you know that we are not in discussions with Genstar or Cetera,” he wrote.

Ben Brigeman, a former Schwab executive, has been named temporary CEO while Cetera searches for a full-time successor.

The post Brooke Southall is Spot-on About Cetera Part 2 of Her Story first appeared on Kevin J Palmer Scottsdale.