Last year was a fabulous time to be providing financial advice in a bank or credit union. According to the 2021/2022 Kehrer Bielan Annual Industry Checkup, revenue was up almost 17%.
The problem with that success, of course, is that financial institution management could think this is the kind of growth that should happen every year. Sure enough, the participants in the Spring Tuneup meeting of our Leadership Study Group reported that their growth targets reflect the exuberance of last year rather than the reality of the last few years. The average annual rate of growth in investment services revenue in banks and credit unions was just 2.3% from 2015 through 2020.
The participants generally are facing growth targets of 10-12% this year. One firm is looking to add 9% of additional revenue on top of the 28% growth booked last year. And another needs to grow 20%.
Faced with this challenge, the conversation naturally focused on how to get there, including optimizing advisor territories and client books, leveraging sales assistants, expanding advisor teams, and stemming advisor attrition. The participants returned to their institutions, buoyed by the insights shared during the session.