RIAs

Envestnet-Tamarac, a Chicago-based provider of integrated web-based portfolio and client management software for independent advisors, has entered into a strategic alliance with Salentica Inc., a provider of client relationship management and client reporting technology solutions for wealth managers

The San Diego-based firm plans to open three new offices in “key” California markets over the next 12 to 18 months.

Armed with new executives and a new partnership with an RIA, the online wealth advisory and lead generation firm for advisors, is thinking expansion.

Determined to keep its 48-year-old firm’s “small, hometown feel,” Investors Security of Suffolk, Va., has decided to drop its own broker-dealer and affiliate with Securities America.

Five years ago, only about 15% of new clients came in over the transom, says the chief executive of one leading RIA. Today, that number has grown to 25% to 35% -- with many of those prospects specifically looking for independent advice.

In the RIA space, rapid consolidation is driving firms to merge, acquire and seek larger partners. In 10 to 20 years, many predict a series of giant $100 billion-AUM firms will emerge to dominate the market. So what does the future hold for smaller firms?

Brinton Eaton, a Madison, N.J., based wealth manager with $700 million in assets under management, has joined Chicago-based Mariner Wealth Advisors, bringing the latter’s AUM to $6.3 billion.

Upon completion of the addition of two West Coast advisories by the end of 2012, hybrid RIA Washington Wealth Management will reach over $1 billion in recruited assets under management, representing a 900% increase since December 2011.

With RIA balance sheets healthier, banks once again are taking an interest in RIAs, which are growing as much as 50% more rapidly than wirehouses.

“[A] segment of wealth managers appear to live in denial, clinging to investment methodologies that have patently failed twice over the past decade and are likely to fall short again,” the authors of a white paper accompanying the survey results wrote.