October 16, 2023
Louis Diamond Quoted
by Victoria Zhuang
Following heavy consolidation in recent years, the lion’s share of retail wealth has ended up at the biggest industry shops.
“The wirehouses, regardless of what we hear anecdotally, are still a very viable home for advisors, especially those that are working with the high net worth and ultrahigh net worth” clients, industry recruiter Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants, said in an interview.
Diamond said around half the advisors he sees leaving wirehouses in a given year choose to join another wirehouse, rather than leave the channel. “The reason is comfort, familiarity, the fact that they’re successful with everything under one roof where they don’t have to go and build their own technology stacks or source products,” he said. “And they also benefit from the brand … [but] not all wirehouses are created equal.”
For smaller firms that may find it harder to buy and bulk up in a higher interest rate environment, Rose said there are still ways to survive. “You don’t have to be the best at every single [offering]” to advisors, he said.
“But you need to understand what your differentiation is and what your value proposition is, and make sure you’re targeting your messages to the types of advisors with whom that’s going to resonate.”
