Advisors at banks and credit unions are bringing home the bacon.
In 2013, they produced an average of $381,411 in revenue for their financial institutions, up 31% from the previous year, according to Kehrer Saltzman & Associates latest Annual Checkup report released Monday.
Advisors in banks with their own broker-dealer made even more money, producing $435,360, on average, or 33% more than they did the previous year. Those in banks that work with a third-party broker-dealer produced $297,028, a 29% jump from 2012.
The difference in productivity between the two groups stems partly from efforts at the bigger banksthose most likely to have their own broker-dealerto hire top advisors, according to the report. They have been more aggressive in offering incentives to attract top-producing advisors, Kenneth Kehrer, a principal of Kehrer Saltzman, said in a statement. He also noted that the largest banks have been more successful in transitioning to fee-based advisory business.
While less productive, financial institutions affiliated with third-party broker-dealers managed to increase the number of advisors, reversing a long-term decline. The study found that 6,160 financial advisors worked in banks and credit unions affiliated with third-party marketers, up from 6,017 the year before.
Fewer banks overall, however, were selling investment products. Kehrer Saltzman estimates that 1,809 banks offered investment services in 2013, down 3% from the previous year, the fourth time in the last five years that the number of banks offering investment services has fallen. The decline was due to consolidation in the banking industry, which shrank by almost 3%, the report explained.
Among credit unions, the story was different. The number of credit unions selling investments increased almost 3% to 860, the report found.
The report, titled KSA 2013/2014 Annual Checkup, is based on its annual survey of the third-party broker-dealers that partner with banks and credit unions, its proprietary surveys of compensation and performance benchmarking, and industry data from the FDIC and BISAs Quarterly Productivity Reports.
