12.09.21
Big Drop in Retail Broker-Dealers Since 2010: Cerulli
by: Bruce Kelly
Cerulli Associates estimates that the number of wealth management-focused or retail brokerage firms shrank 28% over the past decade, from 1,284 in 2010 to 923 in 2020. Many advisors have dropped their brokerage licenses with FINRA to become state or SEC-registered investment advisors, where regulation is seen as less burdensome or limiting. "A restrictive regulatory environment for broker-dealer operations, the increasing cost of maintaining the necessary technology infrastructure to operate a broker-dealer and a recognition by firms of the change in their business focus away from brokerage-based business and toward advisory services are several causes," Cerulli concludes.
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