How Advisors Can Thrive as the Industry Evolves

But what does this evolution mean for advisors and their clients? Joined today by Ben Harrison for being why Mellon Pershing to discuss just that. Hey, Ben, welcome.

Ben Harrison  00:17

Hey, Matt, how are you? Good.

Matt Ackermann  00:18

So Ben, evolution, talk about it a lot. What does this industry is evolving mean to you?

Ben Harrison  00:25

There's a tremendous amount of change and evolution happening in an advisory space. And what we have seen is a consolidation of the space over the last decade. And it's really been a movement towards fiduciary advice. So if you look back 10 years ago, about a third of the client base served by advisors were served by fiduciaries. Now almost half of advisors are served by fiduciaries. And we've seen this convergence between broker dealers, and Ras, and it's really informing our strategy about how we serve our clients as well. We recently formed a our business around wealth solutions, which serves registered investment advisors, broker dealers, and Bank and Trust companies in one holistic manner, and really mirrors the way advisors are thinking about serving their clients, comprehensive, holistic financial plan, really focused on being on the same side of the table as the investor.

Matt Ackermann  01:20

This idea of comprehensive and consolidation at the same time, what does it mean for advisors in terms of what they expect from you guys? And also what their clients expect from them?

Ben Harrison  01:30

Yeah, well, clients expect to really have a one stop shop. And they really need firms that have a comprehensive view and can handle everything front to back from financial planning to estate planning, sometimes preparing tax returns, philanthropy, all of the things that are important in terms of financial life, they're very complex these days. So there, we're seeing a broadening of services. And that requires us to then meet those needs and be able to offer a full spectrum of wealth solutions for advisors to be able to serve their clients effectively.

Matt Ackermann  02:07

If clients expect one stop shop, then the advisor expects that one stop shop as well, they want one place to go to, they don't want to have to do a lot of places.

Ben Harrison  02:16

Absolutely, they want a dedicated model that is specifically aligned to everything that they do. They want to be able to access our tools, our technology, our talent, our ability to provide services, such as banking, and lending and investments across the entire spectrum of what they need to deliver to their clients.

Matt Ackermann  02:36

Because at the end of the day, we're entering rocky market conditions and clients need advisors more than ever right now. But they want an advisor that has all the solutions for them in one phone call one stop, right?

Ben Harrison  02:46

Absolutely, this volatility really is a time in which, you know, clients are earning their fee for advice, but clients really need to have a trusted counterparty to to help them wade through this, and really help them you know, get through these volatile times.

Matt Ackermann  03:05

So at the end of the day, what can advisors do to make sure that they're offering comprehensive solutions in this new evolving consolidated world?

Ben Harrison  03:15

Well, they've got to have great partners. And, you know, we're proud to be a partner for many firms in the marketplace. They've got to have great talent. And there's a, you know, there's a race for top talent today. And they really need to be able to clearly differentiate what they do from the other firms down the street, because we talked about at the beginning, there's this convergence in the model. So you can't just differentiate by the model that you're in today because everybody is really fighting for the same type of client.

Matt Ackermann  03:47

It's always a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for making time for us. For Advisorpoedia, Matt Ackerman.