Enterprise RIAs’ 58% Asset Share Puts Pressure on Growth and Service Models

Enterprise RIAs have expanded their share of the registered investment advisor channel quickly, but their next challenge is turning scale into a durable operating advantage. Cerulli Associates reports that these firms now hold 58% of RIA channel assets, up 18 percentage points since 2020. Its findings point to a business model under pressure to serve more complex clients while improving how firms attract clients, support advisors and deliver planning.

The segment grew at a 20% compound annual rate over the past five years, compared with 12% for the RIA channel as a whole. RIAs account for 28% of wealth management assets, and the channel has just under 100,000 advisors. Those figures describe a larger presence across wealth management, as well as a widening gap between firms with substantial operating platforms and smaller practices.

Firm size is changing the shape of the channel

The number of RIA firms managing at least $5 billion in assets climbed to 357 in 2025 from 202 in 2020, a 12.1% compound annual growth rate. At the other end of the distribution, the count of firms managing less than $10 million declined to 3,737 from 4,027 over the same period, a -1.5% CAGR. Firms in the $5 billion-plus tier now employ 38% of all RIA advisors.

These shifts matter because assets and headcount can support centralized resources, but they also raise expectations for consistent service across a larger organization. Cerulli says years of dealmaking have diluted some of the distinctions firms once used to stand out. In response, large RIAs are adding tax planning, estate services, family office work and institutional consulting. Among the large firms Cerulli reviewed, 60% offer trust and estate planning.

That service expansion could help firms address more client needs within one organization and retain fee revenue that might otherwise go to outside providers. It also adds operational demands: firms need people, systems and processes capable of delivering specialist work alongside core advice. Cerulli’s findings suggest that breadth of service is becoming part of the competition for complex, affluent clients, rather than a feature limited to a few firms.

“There is a growing chasm between firms that can build scalable platforms and those limited by traditional operating structures,” said Stephen Caruso, director of wealth management at Cerulli. He said enterprise firms are investing in centralized business development, integrated service delivery, structured talent pipelines and expanded planning capabilities.

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Advisor time and staffing remain constraints

Scale has not removed the daily workload pressures on advisors. Cerulli found that RIA advisors spend 53% of a typical week on client-facing work, while administration and investment management together consume more than 17 hours of a 40-hour week. Specialist staffing remains limited: 17% of firms employ compliance professionals, 14% have marketing staff, and 19% have planning specialists or paraplanners.

That mix leaves many advisors balancing client relationships with internal work. Adding specialists can shift some tasks away from advisors and make service delivery easier to organize, though the data show that such roles are still uncommon across the firms surveyed. For large RIAs, the ability to add capacity without losing consistency is closely tied to whether a broader service offering can work at scale.

Technology is taking on part of that workload. Cerulli reports that 79% of RIAs use AI in some capacity, most often through general-purpose tools. Nearly half, 49%, use it for note-taking or call documentation. Financial planning use is less common at 23%, although another 32% plan to adopt it for that work. Among billion-dollar RIAs, more than 40% say they need more from the technology they already have.

The figures point to adoption ahead of full operational payoff. AI tools may help with specific tasks, but firms still need systems that fit their existing work and produce useful results. The gap between current use and desired capabilities is a measure of the implementation challenge as firms try to support more clients and services.

Billion-dollar RIAs are also leaning on AI and data to sustain growth, while the reported need for better technology suggests that adoption alone has not resolved their operating demands.

Growth efforts and succession will shape the next phase

Client acquisition is becoming a shared organizational task at larger firms. Among billion-dollar RIAs, 47% distribute that responsibility across the business, while 11% use a dedicated business development team. Cerulli expects centralized business development to grow in importance as firms seek organic growth. The figures show that firms are taking different approaches, with most of those surveyed assigning acquisition work more broadly than to a standalone team.

Organic growth has drawn greater attention, and a central function can give a firm a coordinated way to pursue it. Whether that effort translates into sustained growth will depend on execution and on how well new clients can be served within the firm’s existing capacity.

Consolidation is also reshaping hybrid RIAs. Their number fell 4.9% in 2025, mostly because of deals, while advisors per firm rose 14.6% to an average of 12.5. That combination suggests fewer firms with larger advisor groups. Separately, Echelon Partners counted 125 announced wealth management transactions in the third quarter of 2026 and said the year was on track for 510 deals, above the 466 recorded in 2025. In 11 of the deals it highlighted, wealth managers bought businesses in tax, insurance, retirement or consulting—the same service areas Cerulli says enterprise firms are adding.

Read more: 'It's a choice': Fee-only fiduciary RIAs win client loyalty but lose market share

Succession could sustain deal activity: Cerulli counts almost 10,000 RIA advisors nearing retirement who are unsure of their succession plan. That is a substantial transition need within a channel already changing through consolidation. For firms seeking growth, the next test is whether broader services, better support for advisor time and clearer succession paths can turn size into a stronger platform for clients and employees.

“Cerulli expects more RIAs to provide all-encompassing services as they seek to support growth and capture fee revenue that might otherwise go to third-party providers,” Caruso said. That expectation frames the central question for enterprise firms: whether their expanding scale can support a wider service model without leaving advisors and clients to absorb the strain.