Kehrer Group Highlighter
The Kehrer Group Highlighter packages some of our most important findings, insights, and commentary into bite-size, digestible articles. We make the Highlighters available for free to the entire financial advice community—a small gesture of appreciation for a community that has done so much to support our work.
The Latest Highlighters
Investment Services in Regional and Community Banks Tread Water in Difficult Year
Annual Study Shows Mixed Performance Advisor headcount in the regional and community banks that partner with the third-party broker dealers declined for the third time in the past four years. While the slippage was small—1.8% —it was enough of a setback to...
Bank-Owned Broker Dealers Add Advisors, Experience the Impact on Profits
Advisor headcount in the bank-owned BDs increased for the first time since 2016, according to the 2022/2023 Kehrer Bank Broker Dealer Survey. While the increase was small— 2.5%—the reversal of the slow decline in the advisor force was welcome news, as adding advisors...
Financial Institutions Boxed Out of Providing Advice to Affluent and HNW Investors
New data indicate that the wealthier people are, the more likely they are to consult with a professional advisor before making an investment decision. But they are less likely to turn to an advisor in a bank or credit union. These findings are among the insights...
Chasing Affluent and HNW Households Risks Ignoring the Opportunity Down Market
Less than 3% of US Households have at least $3 million in financial assets, but those households own 40% of aggregate household financial assets. That was one of the insights served up by Larry Cohen, director of RFI Global’s MacroMonitor, at last week’s Kehrer Study...
More Evidence That the Banking Crisis Was Not A Bank Wealth Management Crisis
The banking crisis of early 2023 swept away 3 large banks, battered bank market valuations, and saw a flight of deposits from regional banks to the very largest institutions. To check on how this banking crisis was affecting the investment services business in...
Sunsetting Plans for Bank-Based Advisors
The recently published BISA-Cerulli study, Improving Recruitment and Retention Throughout Advisors’ Lifecyles, identified the lack of sunsetting plans for advisors as a weakness in banks and credit unions. Many of the 20 advisors interviewed expressed concern about...
Financial Institutions and Their Investment Services Practices Consolidate, Scrambling Their Business Data
Kehrer Group’s Annual Industry Checkup Highlights Data Management Challenges A thread that runs through all our Annual Industry Checkups since we launched this service: the ongoing consolidation of banks and credit unions. In 2008 there were 8,504 banks and...
Growth of Credit Unions Buoying Financial Institution Investment Services Business
Kehrer Group Annual Checkup Charts Steady Growth Much of the media attention on investment services in financial institutions has focused on banks, from the large wealth management sales forces of the mega banks to the regional and community banks. This year’s...
Optimizing the Second Story Strategy
According to last year’s BISA-sponsored study by Aite-Novarica, median production of second story advisors in 15 bank-based investment services firms was 2.2 times the median production of branch-based advisors in 28 financial institution practices. Source: Growth...
Banking Scare Not a Big Deal for Financial Advisors
Industry participants report that the crisis that swept away two mid-size banks amid flights of deposits and battered bank market valuations has not had a major impact on financial advisors. According to a Kehrer Group poll conducted over the past week, half the...