Cetera Financial Group and Cetera Financial Institutions Announce Return of Cathay Bank to Cetera Financial Institutions Platform

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera Financial Group® ("Cetera" or "the Company")*, a leading network of independent firms supporting the delivery of professional financial advice, and Cetera Financial Institutions today announced that Cathay Bank will transition its retail wealth management program back to the Cetera Financial Institutions platform after a brief period away.  Cathay Bank is a Los Angeles-based bank that opened in 1962 to serve the needs of Chinese-American clients in southern California.  Today, it is a subsidiary of Cathay General Bancorp, a publicly-held bank holding company with over $14.5 billion in assets and 58 branches across the United States and one in Hong Kong.  Cathay Bank currently offers wealth management services in the U.S. only.  Cetera Financial Institutions is the Cetera firm specifically focused on serving the wealth management programs of banks and credit unions.

With 53 financial professionals located in 41 of the bank's branches, Cathay Bank's retail wealth management program focuses on providing financial planning, retirement, insurance and investment management services to a wide variety of clients, including numerous high-net-worth individuals.  The bank's retail wealth management program, which began in 2002, today maintains over $507 million in brokerage assets.

LeAnn Rummel, President of Cetera Financial Institutions, said, "We are delighted to welcome Cathay Bank back to Cetera Financial Institutions after a very brief period away from us.  We're very pleased that we have been able to come together in a relationship that is stronger than ever before.  Cathay Bank's decision to rejoin our platform reaffirms once again the strength of our service culture and expertise in serving financial institutions, as well as the power of Cetera's vision for an advice-centric future for the industry. We believe Cathay Bank will be the first of a number of institutions that, after a brief period of working with other platforms, develop an even greater appreciation for Cetera Financial Institutions' value proposition and decide to return to the fold."

Ms. Rummel continued, "Cathay Bank continues to be in high-growth mode and is specifically emphasizing its wealth management program as a key growth driver.  We look forward to working closely with the bank to support and expand its base of high-net-worth retail clients.  Our work with Cathay Bank will include a specific focus on several of its priorities for its wealth management program, including increased recruiting of financial advisors, growing its life insurance business and training and education to help advisors thrive under evolving fiduciary rules."

Philip Hurst, Senior Vice President and Director of Wealth Management at Cathay Bank, said, "We are very excited to work with Cetera Financial Institutions once again. The transformation of Cetera Financial Group over the past year has been extremely successful and the company is doing better than ever.  In addition to its expertise in supporting bank-based wealth management programs like ours, what attracted us back to Cetera was its service culture, access to its executive leadership team and deep understanding of financial institutions, which is especially critical in this new fiduciary era. Cetera's Advice Architect Ecosystem of technology-driven tools was also a very compelling factor for us, as were the company's training capabilities and rapid responsiveness to our needs. We also appreciate the scale and resources available to them as part of one of the nation's largest independent broker-dealer networks. Cetera's value proposition has helped us grow successfully in the past, and we look forward that it will continue to drive our growth in the future."

About Cetera Financial Institutions
Cetera Financial Institutions is a marketing name of Cetera Investment Services LLC, a self-clearing registered broker-dealer that delivers customized investment and insurance solutions to financial institutions nationwide. Cetera Investment Services helps institutions expand their financial offerings, which allows clients to pursue their financial goals through a holistic approach while delivering sound and strong financial solutions. Advisory services are offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser firm, where financial advisors receive a wide array of solutions and back-office support, so that they can focus on their clients.

Cetera Investment Services LLC and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC are members of Cetera Financial Group, which provides leading wealth management and advisory platforms and innovative technology to financial advisors and financial institutions nationwide. Cetera Investment Services is a member of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). For more information, see www.ceterafinancialinstitutions.com.

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.

* "Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors, Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Investment Services (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions), Cetera Financial Specialists, First Allied Securities, Girard Securities, and Summit Brokerage Services. All firms are members FINRA/SIPC.

Media Contacts:

Matthew Griffes
Haven Tower Group
424.652.6520 ext. 103
[email protected]

Joseph Kuo
Haven Tower Group
424.652.6520 ext. 101
[email protected]

SOURCE Cetera Financial Group

Related Links

http://www.cetera.com