Wasting little time after the Cetera acquisition was approved, Nicholas Schorsch-led RCS Capital started the process of rationalizing the nine broker dealers it has acquired — which includes about 9,000 reps — by naming Larry Roth to lead the enterprise. Cetera's CEO, Valerie Brown, stepped down. As part of the management changes, Adam Antoniades, longtime president and CEO of First Allied, which was acquired last year, stepped down from that post to replace Brown. As president of Cetera, he now reports to Roth.
RCAP, the RCS Capital subsidiary which oversees their budding IBD enterprise, was started to wholesale non-traded REITs to advisors. RCS has a 60% market share in those products. Roth, formerly the head of AIG-owned IBD Advisor Group, was brought on to run RCAP last year, but with the acquisition of Cetera, the focus is shifting. Now rationalizing the disparate group of IBDs, with more rumored to come on board, will be the job of Roth and Antoniades — as the first real IBD competitor to LPL continues to forge ahead.
