Jack Gilbert: Hello from across the pond, Ian. You edit Citywire’s website for registered investment advisers (RIAs) in the US; can you tell our British readers a little bit about the US advice market? How many advisers (or advisors, as you call them) do you have and are they working for big institutions or their own little firms?
Ian Wenik: Great to hear from you, Jack, and a hearty hello to your NMA readers.
The RIA industry is still relatively small compared with the largest brokerage houses – think Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and the like – but it is growing rapidly. The Investment Adviser Association (IAA) – a trade group for RIAs – estimated there were roughly 15,100 RIA firms at the end of 2022 compared with about 13,000 at the end of 2018. Most of those firms are on the smaller side. The IAA estimates that the average RIA that works with individual clients has nine employees and $330m (£262.6m) in assets.