Wirehouses bleed $1.5T, indies gain ground

Wirehouses lost approximately $1.5 trillion worth of market share last year, according to a report from Cerulli Associates Inc. of Boston. Wirehouses controlled 47.7% of adviser-managed assets in 2008, slipping slightly from the 48.5% of the market they controlled in 2007, according to the Cerulli report. That translated into a decline from $5.4 trillion in assets in 2007 a little more than $3.9 trillion at the end of last year. Market share for independent advisers, meanwhile, grew from 31.6% in 2007 to 32.8% last year. Adviser-managed assets totaled approximately $11.2 trillion in 2007 and about $8.3 trillion last year. “The shift towards independent advisers is very real,” said Bing Waldert, director of Cerulli. “Advisers are increasingly moving toward independent business models and clients are questioning the value of dealing with wirehouses given that they've been wrapped up in so many negative stories.” Mr. Waldert characterized the shift as a “slow erosion,” however he noted that “wirehouses remain an incredibly powerful distribution force.”