Article: Which RIAs are Growing Faster, Hybrids or Independents?
Financial Planning recently published an article covering research from Cerulli Associates in which asset growth was measured between Hybrid RIAs (those that maintain registration with a broker/dealer) and Independent RIAs (those that have no broker/dealer affiliation).
Not surprisingly, Hybrid RIAs had greater AUM growth. However, Cerulli correctly determined that simple AUM numbers alone did not tell the whole story. First, Cerulli cited that Hybrids are undergoing more consolidation than independents, causing their AUM numbers to artificially bloat. Cerulli also removed recently-registered advisers from the data pool, because new advisers typically join a hybrid RIA when leaving a wirehouse.
After adjusting the data as described above, independent RIAs actually showed more organize AUM growth. Click on the link below to read the entire article:
