More and more advisors going RIA, says Advisory Services Network’s Trey Prescott

A growing number of advisors are seeking the benefits offered by the RIA model, according to Trey Prescott, director of business development at Advisory Services Network.

The Atlanta-based fiduciary RIA partners with firms that want independence and is seeing increasing demand from advisors eager to make the leap to the RIA model. ASN also serves as a custodian for Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing, Goldman Sachs, SEI, and AssetMark.

“We've had 16 launches this year,” Prescott told InvestmentNews, putting the company well on pace to surpass 2025, when it had about 23 launches. Of the 16 launches so far in 2026, about five involved advisors jumping from wirehouses, while five or six came from independent broker dealers.

“I have pitched, personally, this year, 191 groups,” Prescott added. “Those are all single man, woman IARs [Investment Adviser Representatives] who are annoyed with the wirehouses, banks, and those type of programs, all the way up to roll-up RIAs.”

To illustrate his point, Prescott explained that the RIA platform is currently working on a roughly $350 million deal that involves three advisors. “[The advisors] are just rolling up their RIA so that they can take advantage of our back office and liquidity and succession planning,” he said.

“My goal [this year] is to bring in anywhere between 40 and 50 quality groups,” Prescott added.

RIAS GAINING MOMENTUM WITHIN THE INDUSTRY

Research backs up the momentum that Prescott is seeing in the independent RIA channel. Data released in February by Boston-based Cerulli Associates found that independent and hybrid RIAs increased their share of industry assets, combined, from 21% of total industry assets in 2015 to 27% in 2024. The growth has been driven largely by advisors seeking greater autonomy over their practices, as well as the economic benefits of firm ownership, and higher payouts, according to Cerulli.

Underlining the scope of this transition, Cerulli estimates that nearly 9% of advisors, accounting for $3.1 trillion in assets, changed firms last year.

ASN, which is described by Prescott as a “turnkey RIA ecosystem,” was founded in 2010 by his father, Tom, and Dave Paulukaitis as a sister firm to a compliance consulting practice. 

“If you're an advisor, you can plug and play, self brand, have six custodial options, a full back office that takes everything of the infrastructure of the RIA, billing, compliance, transition, operations, service, OCIO [Outsourced Chief Investment Officer], models, everything you need to run your own RIA,” said Prescott.

KEY NEW HIRE

Underscoring ASN’s push to help firms go RIA, Prescott pointed to the hire of Fidelity Investments veteran Stephen Peters, who joined ASN last month as senior business development officer. Peters has been brought in to drive Advisory Services Network’s national growth strategy.

“This year we just made a great hire out of Fidelity Investments, hired Steve Peters, who had 19 years on the product and emerging market side, and he's already made a great effect on what we're doing and how we're serving in different ways that we can get the messaging out,” said Prescott.

Some 16 years since its founding, ASN has racked up about $11.5 billion to $12 billion in assets under management, as well as almost 300 advisors and clients nationwide, encompassing between 50,000 to 60,000 accounts. Prescott said that the company’s customer base includes about 220 independent institutions.

"Really what we are now is more from a consulting firm to an RIA platform, and aggregator to an RIA ecosystem, where we can launch advisors out, enhance their day to day independence, and succession them down the road whenever they're ready," said Prescott. "These are all  entrepreneurs that want to run their own businesses the way they see fit - we're a catalyst to them getting to all the next steps that they want to be at."