The word on the benefits of the independent RIA channel is having trouble getting out, as wirehouses and banks control nearly three-quarters of all high-net-worth assets in the United States.
“As of year-end 2014, wealth managers controlled approximately $8 trillion in HNW and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) client assets,” Donnie Ethier, associate director at Cerulli Associates. “The longtime market leaders – the wirehouses, private banks, and trust companies – have maintained their reign with a collective marketshare of 72%.”
“Wirehouses, private banks, and trust companies remain the three largest HNW channels, respectively,” Ethier explains. “Wirehouse assets lessened from past years; however, this is not always due to a loss of assets. Instead, it can be due to a change in Cerulli’s methodology, including redistributing a wirehouse’s assets to an affiliated channel. An example is separating U.S. Trust’s marketshare from Merrill Lynch.”
Cerulli’s report, “High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2015: Understanding and Addressing Family Offices,” focuses on analysis of the HNW and UHNW marketplace in the U.S. and examines services provided by wealth managers, including family offices, wirehouses, banks, and RIAs.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
