Cetera Taps Antoniades as CEO

When asked about how his leadership strategy would be affected by recent consolidation in the industry — Charles Schwab moving to buy TD Ameritrade for $26 billion and Advisor Group announcing plans to purchase Ladenburg Thalmann in a deal with an enterprise value of — Antoniades said: "Industry consolidation has been a trend for some time, and the [different] stakeholders are starting to look like each other."

Though Cetera hasn't made headlines for any large deal over the past year or so (despite industry gossip that it might be a bidder), it could do so in the future, according to the new CEO: "Part of the consolidation is inevitable, and we expect to play [a part] in it," explained the new CEO.

In terms of related trends such as margin compression and digitization, "We have been focused [on them] for awhile now. They've played in our favor in that we've already been in this mode and executing, so our staff can be nimble," added Antoniades. "We are strategically in position to participate in these changes."

As for Cetera's overall competitive approach, "We were early in our branding of offering an 'Advice-Centric Experience.' That will continue to be our focus and aim as we navigate the [industry] landscape," he said.

In February, following Moore's abrupt departure from the CEO slot, advisor recruiter and industry veteran Jon Henschen said, "I would have thought they would move Adam in [to the CEO role] given his deep understanding of the industry and Cetera's competitors."

At the time, Brigeman said Genstar had "full confidence in Cetera's strategy and the strength of its management team." He cited the completion of the firm's fiduciary duty when discussing the wrap-up of the CEO search on Tuesday.