Cetera Financial Group is adding Concourse Financial Group Securities to its recent string of wealth management businesses bought from insurance companies.
Birmingham, Alabama-based Concourse is a subsidiary of the insurance company Protective Life Corporation. It has 350 advisors, $4 billion in assets under management and $12 billion under administration. Cetera, a large independent broker-dealer with 12,000 financial professionals and $224 billion under management, said Tuesday it plans to complete its acquisition of Concourse for an undisclosed amount by the first quarter of next year.
Until 2021, the wealth management business now known as Concourse had gone by the name of ProEquities. Protective Life Corporation, itself owned by Tokyo-based Dai-ichi Life Holdings, switched the brand that year as part of a merger of three internal divisions. Concourse specializes in offering insurance-related services and advice along with financial planning and asset management.
“This transaction allows Protective to focus on our competencies in the life insurance and annuity businesses, while enabling Concourse Financial Group Securities financial professionals and clients to benefit from Cetera’s industry leading resources and support for today’s top advisors,” said Aaron Seurkamp, the president of the protection and retirement division at Protective Life Corporation, in a statement.
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Besides 350 financial professionals and $4 billion under management, Concourse has $12 billion in assets under administration. With more than $99 million in revenue last year, Concourse ranked No. 24 among independent broker-dealers in Financial Planning’s latest IBD Elite ranking.
Cetera, which had $3.95 billion in revenue in 2023 when combined with its tax services subsidiary Avantax, came in at the No. 4 spot. Much of its backing for deals comes from Genstar Capital, a private equity firm that bought a majority stake in Cetera in 2018.
Some of Cetera’s other recent acquisitions include its purchase in 2023 of Securian Financial Group’s wealth management business, in a deal that brought in $50 billion in assets.
Two years before, it bought parts of the independent financial planning channel of Voya Financial Advisors, adding $37 billion in assets. That business has since been renamed Cetera Wealth Partners.
And in 2019, it acquired the U.S. wealth business of Foresters Financial, giving it an additional 500 advisors. Many large insurance firms have been selling their wealth management divisions in recent years after finding the businesses often come with tighter regulations and slimmer margins than they’re used to.
“Cetera has a proven track record of acquiring and successfully integrating independent broker-dealers affiliated with insurance organizations, and Concourse Financial Group Securities represents a tremendous opportunity in today’s rapidly consolidating market,” Mike Durbin, Cetera CEO, said in a statement.
