Cetera Welcomes the Malara Advisory Team

Experienced, Bank-Based Wealth Management Team Brings Approximately $180 Million in Client Assets to Cetera Investment Services Platform

News provided by

Cetera Financial Group

Dec 12, 2018, 06:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera, a leading network of independent broker-dealer firms supporting the delivery of professional financial advice, today announced that Joseph and Pamela Malara have joined the Cetera Investment Services platform. The Malaras are an experienced husband-and-wife financial advisory team with approximately $180 million in client assets that provides wealth management services through two banks in Louisiana: the Bank of St. Francisville, a local bank with $135 million in total assets and one location in St. Francisville, LA; and Peoples Bank of Pointe Coupee Parish, a regional bank serving the New Roads, Livonia, Central and Baton Rouge, LA markets with $285 million in total assets.

The Malara team works with approximately 700 retail clients, providing financial planning, retirement, insurance and investment management services. The team joined from Investment Professionals, as it was being acquired by Ameriprise. The Malaras plan to pursue growth in holistic planning and advisory by leveraging Cetera's services and technology.

Joseph Malara said, "In making the move to Cetera, our clients' needs were our primary consideration. The Cetera team has shown a superior commitment to customer service throughout our very smooth and quick transition process. Its technology platform will enable us to enhance our client service capabilities with greater efficiency and grow our practice."

Pamela Malara said, "When it comes to the guidance and service we provide our clients, we hold ourselves to extremely high standards. With that in mind, we have been very impressed with the service mentality, resources and attention to detail we have seen in all our interactions with Cetera to date. Cetera's longstanding expertise in supporting financial institutions-based practices like ours has already been evident in the consultative training sessions in which we have taken part, and in the seamless transition support we have received."

LeAnn Rummel, President of Cetera Investment Services, said, "Joe and Pam Malara have built a strong and growing practice by serving as a consistent source of sound, independent financial guidance to their clients for more than 20 years. They exemplify the client-first, service-oriented approach that Cetera seeks to model, and we are thrilled that they have joined our platform. Client service is the underlying tenet of Cetera's Advice-Centric Experience^® model, which envisions a profession driven by high-caliber, planning-based advice for clients. In addition to a client-first orientation, the Malara team's decision was driven by the same value proposition that has brought so many bank and credit union-based wealth management programs to work with us, including our ability to help advisors meet their growth goals."

About Cetera Financial Group^®Cetera Financial Group ("Cetera") is a leading network of independent firms empowering the delivery of professional financial advice to individuals, families and company retirement plans across the country through trusted financial advisors and financial institutions. Cetera is the second-largest independent financial advisor network in the nation by number of advisors, as well as a leading provider of retail services to the investment programs of banks and credit unions.

Through its multiple distinct firms, Cetera offers independent and institutions-based advisors the benefits of a large, established broker-dealer and registered investment adviser, while serving advisors and institutions in a way that is customized to their needs and aspirations. Advisor support resources offered through Cetera include award-winning wealth management and advisory platforms, comprehensive broker-dealer and registered investment adviser services, practice management support and innovative technology. For more information, visit cetera.com.

*Products are not FDIC insured.

Media Contact:
Mitch Manning
Haven Tower Group
424.652.6520 ext. 108
[email protected]

SOURCE Cetera Financial Group