Broker-Dealer M&A Picks Up. Don’t Pop The Champagne Just Yet.
Four Summer Deals By LPL, Atria And Cetera Have The Industry Abuzz. Now Let’s Take A Closer Look At What’s Really Been Happening In IBD Deal Flow.
Wealth Solutions Report 9/27/23 (Written by Larry Roth, Co-Founder of Ascentix)
The era of massive independent broker-dealer mergers and acquisitions has not quite been resurrected, but the space showed renewed signs of life this summer thanks to LPL agreeing to acquire Crown Capital Securities, Atria acquiring Grove Point Financial, and Cetera acquiring certain assets of Securian and agreeing to acquire Avantax.
Before all those IBD executives crack open the champagne and toast to good times, it’s worth taking a closer look at what these deals might mean within the broader historical context of wealth management consolidation. Upon inspection, it appears that broker-dealer leadership would be wise to balance optimism with disciplined risk management regarding future M&A.