Led by Erica McGinnis, the AIG Advisor Group is hosting its annual Women's Conference in Miami this week.
According to McGinnis, former-Advisor Group CEO Larry Roth and his new boss at RCS Capital (RCAP), Nicholas Schorsch, aren't expected to attend, though the rumors that Schorsch and RCS are eying Roth's former employer for their next deal continue.
"We have enjoyed a long, rich history with AIG. We are comfortable with our parent company and just put AIG back into the Advisor Group name a few weeks ago," McGinnis said in an interview before the event. "Employees recognize that we are part of AIG and are really proud of our parent company."
The AIG Advisor Group includes close to 6,200 affilated reps. Some 1,250 are with FSC Securities, 1,900 with Royal Alliance, 1,830 with SagePoint Financial and 1,200 with Woodbury Financial.
"We are off to a great start in 2014," said McGinnis. "One broker-dealer, FSC, is off the charts in about every metric and category, especially recruiting. Jerry Murphy [who is president and CEO] is doing a great job recruiting this year, and the other broker-dealers are chugging along, doing great and feeling positive about meeting their recruiting targets – which are for 9-10% year-over-year growth."
Couch's Role
Allison Couch, recently tapped as the AIG Advisor Group's executive vice president of national sales, is attending this week's event. (Couch was with Royal Alliance and FSC before moving to LPL Financial and later Cetera Financial Group.)
"She has an incredible background … and we're glad she's coming home," McGinnis said.
Couch's role as head of sales means that she'll work with the group's internal wholesalers. "We'll put them [under] common leadership, and she will focus on cross-disciplinary work and organic growth, or same-store sales, of advisors."
"One metric we are watching is average GDC [or fees and commissions] per rep, which we have seen go up by 7% this year, and that is without trying, in my opinion," the AIG Advisor Group president and CEO explained. "We are excited to have Allison figure out who needs help and how to do more … to help people grow their bottom lines. If can succeed here, then our recruiting team will have a winning strategy."
Kevin Beard was just named the group's executive vice president of recruiting and acquisition strategy, a role he played previously for Royal Alliance.