Atria Wealth Solutions has closed on its acquisition of Western International Securities, a Pasadena, Calif.-based independent broker/dealer with over 400 advisors and $11 billion in client assets under administration, announced in November. The deal brings Atria’s total network to nearly 2,500 advisors and $75 billion in assets and adds what it calls a “turnkey branch” model to its platform.
Western International Securities is Atria’s fifth IBD acquisition since it was launched in August 2017 by former Morgan Stanley executive Doug Ketterer. The firm provides a flexible affiliation model, where advisors can join as independents or use its turnkey offering, where they’ll get help finding office space, choosing technology and hiring support staff.
Ketterer initially launched into the financial institutions channel with the acquisition of sister b/ds CUSO Financial Services and Sorrento Pacific Financial, both based in San Diego. Then, Atria acquired Cadaret, Grant & Co., a Syracuse, N.Y.-based IBD with about 900 advisors and more than $23 billion in assets under administration. That deal, part of Atria’s strategy to do business in multiple advisor channels, brought the firm into the independent advisor space. And last year, the firm bought NEXT Financial Group, a Houston-based IBD with about 500 advisors.