Securian Targets Agencies For Recruiting

By Cyril Tuohy
InsuranceNewsNet

St. Paul-based financial services provider Securian Financial Group, looking to attract new talent, keep existing advisers and expand its adviser network, will focus its future recruiting efforts on nine markets, the company has announced.

The change represents a more focused approach to talent recruitment.

Atlanta, home to WealthSpan Financial Group, which joined the Securian Financial Network in April, is one of the markets Securian is targeting.

“We’ve analyzed the characteristics of the market where our existing firms have had great success, factored in our approach to recruiting and looked at demographics and economic profiles of metro areas across the U.S.” said Tony Martins, vice president of individual career distribution with Securian Financial Group, in a news release. But a Securian spokeswoman declined to say what other markets the company was targeting.

Securian Financial is sensitive to what it calls the “cultural criteria” used to recruit new financial advisers, and uses a hybrid model known as The Securian Advantage. The model allows agencies to retain their independence and their entrepreneurial and service-oriented approach while benefiting from the scale and support of broker-dealer services offered by Securian.

Roger Fishel, for example, general manager of WealthSpan, was named associate managing partner at Securian, which will grant him extra training, support and mentoring, in this case by Mike White, a founder and managing partner of Richmond, Va.-based Virginia Asset Management.

As Securian scours the nine metropolitan area landscapes for advisers to join its network, the company will look for established firms that want a change, Martins also said.

Talent recruitment has emerged as one of the most pressing issues facing the industry and mentoring programs are one way to increase the chances that young financial advisers will remain in the industry and produce for a sponsoring employer.

The average age of advisers is rising and there is not enough young blood replacing retiring advisers.

A report published earlier this year by Cerulli Associates finds that the number of financial advisers will fall to 297,515 by the end of 2016, from 316,109 at the end of 2011.

Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at Cyril.Tuohy@innfeedback.com.

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Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at cyril.tuohy@innfeedback.com.