Cerulli projects that within these areas of growth, the registered investment advisor and hybrid registered investment advisor channels combined will increase their asset marketshare from 23 percent in 2015 to 28 percent in 2020.

“While wirehouses still hold a substantial share of assets, RIAs are the growth story,” Kenton Shirk, associate director at Cerulli, said in a statement. He continued, “To build a relationship within an independent practice, wholesalers need to truly understand a firm’s investment philosophy and decision-making process.”

Because of consolidation and increasing focus on due diligence, the report said, partner-firm relationships have become more complex. Nearly a third (27 percent) of national sales managers have already reduced the number of partner firms covered by each key accounts manager, and 47 percent describe this effort as a priority.

“In our survey of national sales managers, 67 percent rank increasing the technical skills of existing wholesalers to address more sophisticated advisor teams as the top priority,” Emily Sweet, senior analyst at Cerulli, said in a statement. Sweet added, “We believe this expanding institutional influence in the retail market, especially in the areas growing most quickly, will continue for the foreseeable future.”