Crisis triggers a significant shift from wirehouses

FWR Staff

29 July 2009

Consultancy on "new realities' driving advance of independents, discounters. Independent financial-planning, brokerage and investment-advisory channels and platforms that facilitate self-directed investors are gaining market share from big-name firms as a result of the financial crisis, says consulting and market-research provider Aite Group.

"Our market data suggests a significant shift toward both the independent advice model and use of self-directed brokerage platforms," says Douglas Dannemiller, a senior analyst with Aite, and co-author of a new report called New Realities in Wealth Management. "As a result, the independent broker-dealer and nearly all wealth-management firms have been confronted with sharp drops in client assets due to the market crash, those firms that have been able to attract new advisors have been able to replace a significant share of these assets."

Aite's New Realities in Wealth Management describes the impact of the crisis on Bank of America's Merrill unit, Schwab, Fidelity, LPL Financial and Wells Fargo, home to Wachovia Securities (now part of Wells Fargo Advisors) since late in 2008. -FWR

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