Louis Diamond Quoted
Wirehouses will fail to retain market share in coming years as independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) charge ahead, according to a new report from Aite Group. The research consultant projects that wirehouses will represent just 31.1% of wealth assets by 2018, compared with 41.3% in 2007.
While the four big wirehouses still represent the largest portion of wealth management industry assets, the channel’s market share declined 1.3% in 2014, according to the Aite Group report. This is part of a longstanding trend, as the channel’s share of industry assets has continued to slip.
Louis Diamond, v.p. of Diamond Consultants, a financial advisor recruiting and consulting firm, also predicts the trend will continue.
“I think it’s really a perfect storm,” Diamond says. “There’s a population of disenfranchised wirehouse advisors that really value freedom, flexibility and control.”