Enterprise RIAs have amassed a dominant share of the registered investment advisor channel, but sheer size will no longer guarantee a competitive edge, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates. The Boston-based research firm's latest RIA marketplace analysis shows that enterprise RIAs—those with $5 billion or more in assets—now hold 58% of all RIA channel assets, up from 40% in 2020. That represents an 18-percentage-point gain in just five years.
The segment's growth has been striking: a 20% compound annual growth rate over the past five years, compared with 12% for the RIA channel overall. RIAs now account for 28% of all U.S. wealth management assets, and the number of advisors at RIAs stands at just under 100,000. The number of firms with at least $5 billion in assets jumped to 357 in 2025 from 202 in 2020, a 12.1% CAGR. Meanwhile, firms managing less than $10 million shrank to 3,737 from 4,027, a -1.5% CAGR. By headcount, the $5 billion-plus tier now employs 38% of all RIA advisors.
According to Cerulli, the rapid pace of acquisitions has diluted many traditional differentiators. In response, large RIAs are expanding into tax planning, estate services, family office work, and institutional consulting. Among the large RIAs Cerulli examined, 60% now offer trust and estate planning. “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. “Enterprise RIAs are investing in centralized business development, integrated service delivery, structured talent pipelines, and expanded planning capabilities to serve more complex, affluent clients.”
Operational data from Cerulli reveals that RIA advisors spend 53% of a typical week on client-facing work, with administration and investment management consuming more than 17 hours of a 40-hour week. Yet few firms employ specialists to offload that burden: only 17% have compliance professionals, 14% have marketing staff, and 19% have planning specialists or paraplanners. Technology is filling some gaps—79% of RIAs now use AI in some capacity, most often through general-purpose tools, and 49% use it for note-taking or call documentation. Only 23% use AI for financial planning, though another 32% plan to. Many billion-dollar RIAs are leaning on AI and data to sustain growth, but more than 40% say they need more from their existing technology.
Client acquisition is becoming a strategic priority. Among billion-dollar RIAs, 47% treat it as a shared responsibility across the business, while 11% rely on a dedicated business development team. Cerulli expects centralized business development roles to grow as firms face mounting pressure to achieve organic growth. This trend aligns with broader industry moves, such as T. Rowe Price adding over 50 advisor-facing roles to address support gaps.
M&A continues to reshape the hybrid RIA segment. Cerulli reports that the number of hybrid RIA firms fell 4.9% in 2025, mostly due to mergers and acquisitions, while advisors per firm rose 14.6% to an average of 12.5. Broader deal data from Echelon Partners shows no slowdown: 125 announced wealth management transactions in the third quarter of 2026 put the year on track for a record 510 deals, surpassing 2025's total of 466. In 11 of those Q3 deals, wealth managers acquired tax, insurance, retirement, or consulting businesses—the same service lines Cerulli says enterprise firms are adding. This consolidation is also evident in recent acquisitions like Waverly and Apella adding $412M in RIA assets.
Succession planning will keep deal pipelines full. Cerulli counts nearly 10,000 advisors at RIAs who are nearing retirement and unsure of their succession plans. This demographic pressure is likely to drive further M&A activity as firms seek to acquire books of business. “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.
