Individual investors have sidelined at least US$500 billion, making the time ripe for retail brokerage firms to reposition themselves for the market’s eventual rebound.
Under the current cloud of economic uncertainty and scandal, the one thing that is certain is change for the U.S. retail brokerage industry. Regaining investor confidence and cleaning house—from cost-cutting to breaking the ties that create conflicts of interest—are paramount but they will take time to achieve. In a new report, Retail Brokerage Tactics and Strategies: The Road to Redemption, Celent examines the forces for short- and long-term change.
Redemption requires anew value proposition founded on transparency and objectivity. It also could involve some currently heretical ideas: all-in cost transparency and individual portfolio performance tracking. It could also involve some less controversial ones, such as expansion into banking, migration of low/unprofitable customers to remote channels, and loosening of broker-client ties to the firm’s advantage.
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| Factors | 1980s - Early 1990s | 2000s |
| Pricing Transparency | Limited to disclosure documents (no all-in cost provided in statements) | Line-item disclosure of fees and commissions paid (e.g., part of 1099) | |
| Performance Transparency | Individual portfolio performance is not benchmarked | Rise of benchmarking beginning with SMAs Improved technology that allows for sophisticated performance tracking and benchmarking | |
| Broker's Role | Salesperson who usually offers advice on making relatively significant position changes Close ties to the customer | Advisor expected to understand a client’s entire financial picture and to develop long-term goals Increasing presence of client teams Broker-client ties loosened by increase in fee-based sales and team work | |
| Level of Customization | Function of time spent with and by broker Limited by its predominantly manual nature | Less time-consuming for brokers thanks to automated, yet customizable analytical applications Available to mass market through self-service financial analysis tools (e.g., asset allocation and portfolio re-balancing) | |
| Level of Customer Service | Limited by demands on the broker’s time, which in turn has been consumed by administrative tasks | Improved thanks to productivity-enhancing brokerage applications | |
| Source: Celent Communications | |||
"Even though the road to redemption will be long and pitted with challenges, the race is already making the previously unthinkable happen. For example, Charles Schwab has begun to offer advice directly, Merrill Lynch has pushed itself into the top ten U.S. banks in terms of deposits, and several firms are considering tying the compensation of research analysts to the accuracy of their forecasts," said Alenka Grealish, manager of the banking group at Celent and author of the report.
