With a rebound in net flows from its biggest advisors, Schwab finishes 2010 with a flourish
Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services records a $100 billion asset jump
5 min read- Schwab's net new assets surged 27% year-over-year to $16.4 billion in Q4 2010.
- Premier advisors with near or over $1 billion AUM drove most of Schwab's asset growth.
- Organic growth from existing RIA clients accounted for 85-90% of Schwab's new assets.
- TD Ameritrade reported $9.7 billion in net new client assets, fueled by breakaway brokers.
- Pershing claims to be winning net positive ACATs and RIA firms from Schwab.
On the strength of big inflows from its biggest advisors, Schwab Advisor Services had its most explosive quarter since before the 2008 meltdown, and 2011 is off to a strong start.
The San Francisco-based custodian hauled in $16.4 billion of net new assets — a jump of 27% from the $12.9 billion it brought in during the same quarter last year. It also more than doubled the $8 billion of NNA it brought in for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Asset flows from RIAs are off to a solid start in January but Schwab declined to say more.
“Advisors are back,” says Bernie Clark, executive vice president and head of Schwab Advisor services.
Still, some advisors are back more than others.
Premier advisors
Clark says that the bulk of the assets are being won by what he referred to as Schwab’s “premier” advisors. Historically, Schwab has considered advisors with near to or more than $1 billion of assets under management to fit in this category. For more information on this subset of advisors, see: A glimpse inside Schwab’s EXPLORE conference.
Schwab has about 6,600 advisors with more than $655 billion of AUM, a jump from $590 billion at the end of 2009. Schwab brought in $49.3 billion in net new assets from advisors for all of 2010, up 19.4% from $41.3 billion of NNA in 2010.
Of the assets landed by Schwab, between 85% and 90% of them can be classified as organic, Clark adds. This means that they’re coming from existing registered investment advisor clients who are winning assets from new prospects as opposed to breakaway brokers bringing their books of business with them. See: Study: Breakaway trend may slow as wirehouse mergers start to click.
With big assist from RIAs, Schwab is still a net new asset magnet
Fidelity and TD Ameritrade both report positive results in terms of attracting assets though neither firm broke out net new assets from RIAs.
$100 billion
As of Dec. 31st, 2010, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services administered close to $496 billion, (up $100 billion or) 25% from $396 billion at the end of 2009, the company reported in a statement for this article.
Tom Bradley: We’re a little heavier
in the fresh assets.
FIWS includes assets from third party administrators and trust companies in its asset custody totals, and it doesn’t separate what gains are attributable to market gains.
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TD Ameritrade reports net new client assets of $9.7 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, the first quarter of its fiscal year, up from $8.7 billion of net new assets in 2009. These assets encompass both retail and advisory custody assets.
The overall asset growth is of what’s happening in the RIA custody business, according to Tom Bradley, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional.
“In the advisor business, we’ve seen quarter over quarter growth for the past couple of years,” he says.
Schwab Advisor Services is nearing $800 billion of RIA assets but analysts are split over whether it can continue to dominate
The difference at TD from what Schwab is experiencing is in where those assets are coming from, Bradley adds.
Heavier in fresh assets
“We’re a little heavier in the fresh assets because we’re doing well in the breakaway broker space. The organic growth is doing well, too.”
Clark says he is seeing a noticeable blip in “TOAs” from Pershing. TOA is shorthand for transfer of assets. He didn’t specify whether this includes independent broker-dealers that use Pershing as their clearing firm. See:With big assist from RIAs, Schwab is still a net new asset magnet
But Mark Tibergien, CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions, says that his RIA custodian gets the better of Schwab.
Mark Tibergien says Pershing Advisor Solutions
is winning net positive ACATs and
RIA firms from Schwab.
“Pershing Advisor Solutions continues to grow our advisory assets and that includes winning net positive ACATs (Automated Customer Account Transfers) and RIA firms from Schwab.”
The rise is directly and indirectly attributable to improving market conditions.
“When advisors are confident, they’re in business development mode. And they’re having to spend less time reassuring clients.”
Bradley says that a TD Ameritrade survey showed that 70% of advisors report bringing in new assets and that only 6% reports losing accounts – and very few at that. For more on this study, see: The RIA consensus heading into 2011: hire more and invest in more infrastructure
Another reason advisors are experiencing such a sharply positive reversal of fortunes is that they stayed in the market when it was down and continued to buy shares when they were depressed.
“Their performance is good and that tends to be a magnet for assets,” he says.
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