Cetera adds Primacy Financial, a $450M team from Northwestern Mutual

Cetera Financial Group added Primacy Financial, a nine-member West Seneca, N.Y., team with about $450 million in assets under administration at Northwestern Mutual, Financial Advisor Magazine reported Nov. 6.

Primacy will align with Patriot Financial Group, one of Cetera's large enterprise-level independent offices, rather than operate as a standalone Cetera practice, according to Cetera's release. It joins the Cetera Financial Specialists community. Founding partner Ryan P. O'Connor leads the firm. The practice focuses on business owners, physicians, medical professionals and people nearing or in retirement. Cetera said the practice has a longstanding relationship with the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo.

O'Connor spent all 14 of his years in financial services at Northwestern Mutual and joined Cetera last month, as did other principals on his team, according to BrokerCheck. They include founding partner Christopher J. Williams, principal owner Tony Blasting and partner and chief operating officer Deanna M. McCarthy. O'Connor said in a statement that Cetera won the team over with its focus on advisor growth and its willingness to trust advisors on how to run their businesses.

In the 12 months through Nov. 6, Private Wealth Daily tracked six departures from Northwestern Mutual and no arrivals. The latest was Oct. 30, when Brandon Porter and Kyle Brooker moved with Anchor Financial Partners, a six-person team with $525 million in client assets, to LPL Financial. Cetera had two arrivals and four departures in the same period, and, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported, Joe Borgese's $390 million Contour Wealth practice left Cetera for LPL.

The nine-member team includes a chief investment officer, a director of insurance services and a director of employer and participant operations, showing the practice can move as a unit, not just a book of clients.