Total stock and bond mutual fund and exchange-traded fund assets distributed by independent/regional broker-dealers and registered investment advisors (RIAs) grew at more than twice the rate compared to the wirehouse channel during 2012, according to data from Access Data, a Broadridge Financial Solutions company.
“Independent/regional broker-dealers and RIAs have become an increasingly important distribution channel for mutual fund and ETF firms. By better understanding which channels are driving the most sales, firms can identify their best prospects and opportunities in this increasingly competitive environment,” says Frank Polefrone, senior vice president, Access Data.
Long term mutual fund and ETF assets with independent/regional broker-dealers and RIAs accounted for more than USD3trn, or approximately 40 per cent of total long term mutual fund assets held on the books of third party distributors at the end of 2012. The assets held by independent/regional broker-dealers and RIAs grew 33 per cent and 32 per cent in 2012, respectively.
“The independent/regional broker-dealer and RIA channels attracted the highest net inflows into stock and bond mutual funds of any channel during 2012, with USD67bn and USD56bn of net deposits, respectively,” says Avi Nachmany, executive vice president and director of research at Strategic Insight. “Distribution data in the form of bottom-up granularity by BD and RIA firms offered by Access Data is now combined with Strategic Insight’s top-down analytics and integrated data. Leveraging such details about fund distribution, which in many cases were not available previously, allows mutual fund managers small and large to identify the most profitable growth opportunities by channel, distributor, and product type. This new data transparency allows senior management to make better strategic decisions, and sales management to execute more profitably on that strategy.”
