Cerulli predicts that banks and credit unions will continue to experience a decline in their share of US assets under management. Kehrer Group has frequently pointed to the stagnant growth of advisor headcount as a culprit in this trend. But at the recent Kehrer Study Group on Integrating the Delivery of Wealth Management, the participants reviewed evidence of another factor – bank-based advisors have lower asset productivity than advisors in other wealth segments.
| Independent BDs | Hybrid & Independent RIAs | National & Regional BDs | Wirehouses | Insurance | Banks & Credit Unions | Total | |
| AUM (Trillions) | $4 | $9 | $5 | $10 | $1 | $2 | $31 |
| Asset share | 13% | 29% | 16% | 32% | 3% | 6% | |
| Number of Advisors | 46,658 | 83,433 | 44,418 | 43,479 | 39,065 | 26,084 | 283,137 |
| Advisor Share | 16% | 29% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 9% | |
| Asset/Advisor (Millions) | $86 | $108 | $113 | $230 | $26 | $77 | $109 |
Source: Cerulli, US Broker/Dealer Marketplace 2024
While financial institutions have 9% of all financial advisors, they have only 6% of US AUM. Hybrid and Independent RIAs and National and Regional BDs have the same share of AUM as their shares of total advisors, while Independent BDs and Insurers join banks and credit unions with underperforming advisors. By contrast, the Wirehouses employ only 15% of all advisors, yet manage 32% of wealth management assets. Advisors in Wirehouses manage $230 million in assets, on average, three times the asset productivity of bank-based advisors.
The group discussed the reasons for this gap, and ways to reduce it.
The Kehrer Study Group on Integrating the Delivery of Wealth Management has been working on alternative paths to increasing the breadth and depth of wealth management penetration in financial institutions since 2011. This year’s meeting was held July 22-23 at the Carolina Inn on the campus of The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.