{"id":774122,"date":"2026-07-20T16:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/774122\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:01:16","slug":"cetera-finds-success-with-succession-planning-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/774122\/","title":{"rendered":"Cetera Finds Success With Succession Planning Track"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the launch of Cetera Planning Partners, Cetera Financial Group\u2019s W-2 channel nestled within its broader RIA business, CEO Mike Durbin said the firm is already seeing momentum in its succession planning solution track for Cetera firms (and increasingly for those outside the business as well).<\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging discussion at Wealth Management\u2019s New York offices, Durbin discussed the development of the large broker\/dealer\u2019s RIA channels since their launch last year, as well as private equity and the value of newly established partnerships with banks and credit unions.<\/p>\n

With the addition of Cetera Planning Partners, operating at the broker\/dealer\u2019s RIA W-2 homebase, the firm\u2019s RIA & Branches Channel also includes Cetera Investors (offering independent bank support) and Cetera Blueprint (a supported RIA option).<\/p>\n

Cetera also created a national employee RIA by combining two of its internal firms: The Retirement Planning Group, which it acquired in 2023, and Avantax Planning Partners, a wholly owned RIA acquired in the larger Avantax deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related:LPL Financial Adds $2.4B HNW Team From U.S. Bank<\/a><\/p>\n

As part of the firm\u2019s greater reorganization, Durbin highlighted advisor succession opportunities as a notable growth area. The IBD works with existing 1099 practices to craft succession plans to keep firms within Cetera.<\/p>\n

The firm has a variety of options, including \u201clegacy builder\u201d agreements to buy firms in the event of a principal\u2019s death, and a matchmaking process with other practices inside Cetera (or, outright buying the practice). Durbin said he\u2019d been \u201cpleasantly surprised\u201d by the rate at which practices are taking up the path, as it limits the chance Cetera will lose them to other firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike buying a practice into the W-2 channel, we should be able to pay a good market rate because there\u2019s no friction,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one\u2019s transitioning anywhere. It\u2019s staying within Cetera.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the succession solutions have primarily been aimed at practices already inside Cetera\u2019s tent, Durbin said he was also encouraged by the outside business the firm\u2019s been able to do, finding that these kinds of relationships tend to start as a kind of recruiting interaction that evolves into a succession conversation (and potential plan) once they\u2019re likely to come in-house.<\/p>\n

As of now, Durbin said Cetera is happy remaining private, calling it an \u201copportunity-rich\u201d market and speculating that publicly traded companies are still recovering from the \u201csort of shockwave\u201d earlier this year when Altruist rolled out its AI-assisted tax planning tool Hazel that was cited in market downturns<\/a> for some of the industry\u2019s largest firms.<\/p>\n

Related:&Partners Adds $864M Team From Wells Fargo Advisors<\/a><\/p>\n

While Cetera has been majority-owned by Genstar Capital since 2018, Durbin said it is in a different space from other private equity-backed industry peers, as Cetera is still early in Genstar\u2019s investment cycle. (The PE firm reinvested capital in Cetera from two of its funds in 2023.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not even three years into the cycle,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cPeople always like to ask, \u2018When are you selling? When are you IPOing? When are you recapping?\u2019 I mean, we could do any of those things at any time, because they are fiduciaries to the LPs they run money for, but we have no pressure to transact because it\u2019s early and it\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cetera\u2019s brokerage business is also making further inroads in the bank and credit union space, announcing that First National Bank Wealth Management is joining the firm from LPL Financial, with brokerage support set for five locations in northwest Alabama (with hopes to further expansion).<\/p>\n

Durbin said Cetera works with over 400 banks and credit unions nationwide; the partnership can be a plus for banks seeking diversified revenue streams, but will often run into problems because it\u2019s not easy to stand up a hybrid wealth or brokerage business, even with an existing bank consumer base.<\/p>\n

Related:Q&A: Binah CEO Outlines Plans for M&A, Corporate RIA Consolidation<\/a><\/p>\n

Durbin said Cetera can be an attractive option for those banks and credit unions booking for \u201cwealth management in a box.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t win a piece of business like that because we\u2019re a low-ball bidder on cost. It\u2019s because of the overall value prop, which includes organic growth programming, recruiting, brand building and cross-selling across the financial institution, which can be hard in a bank to get the individual commercial banker to talk to the private banker, to talk to the trust banker, to talk to the wealth manager,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cetera\u2019s brand in those partnerships is secondary to the bank\u2019s. Still, Durbin acknowledged Cetera was bullish on the firm\u2019s bank channel, calling it a sub-market that Cetera would have difficulty forging on its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get the economic result, but we\u2019re penetrating a market without having to build our own brand at a consumer level,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, there\u2019s a good symbiosis there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the launch of Cetera Planning Partners, Cetera Financial Group\u2019s W-2 channel nestled within its broader RIA business,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-774122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}