Advisers Rank Alts Access Third in Reasons for Joining a Firm, Says Cerulli
Forty-one percent of advisers at private banks and trust companies cite the range of financial products, including alternatives, as a key reason they joined their firm, according to a new Cerulli Associates report, which finds that executives are underestimating how much product breadth weighs on advisers’ decisions about where to work.
Retention is a live concern at those firms: 84% of bank executives cite talent retention as an issue, and nearly half, 47%, call it a major business risk. The range of financial products a firm offers – including alternative assets – ranks third among advisers’ stated reasons for joining their current firm, behind only access to client referrals and the firm’s reputation or brand.
The report points to a gap between what advisers say matters and what executives are doing about it. “One of the largest points of disconnect between executives and their advisers appears to be regarding the importance of product choice,” said Matt Zampariolo, senior analyst at Cerulli. “41% of advisers rank financial products as a key reason for joining their firms, yet only 11% of bank executives cite product or investment platform expansion as an adviser retention tactic,” he added.
“The best-positioned institutions will be those that embrace adviser choice and expand product capabilities, among other factors,” he said. “In an environment where wealth continues to concentrate and competition for both clients and advisers intensifies, adaptability may ultimately prove to be the defining characteristic separating the industry’s leaders from the rest of the market.”
The finding fits a broader pattern in Cerulli’s research. The firm projected in July that advisers’ alternative-investment holdings, then around $2.2 trillion, would nearly double to roughly $4.2 trillion by the early 2030s, even as nontraded business development companies face redemption pressure and nontraded real estate investment trust fundraising rebounds. Asset managers have been responding by sourcing alternatives capability through partnerships rather than building it alone: Cerulli reported in 2024 that 53% of asset managers already rely on strategic partnerships with alternatives specialists to reach new client segments, with half planning to lean on those partnerships more.
Whether broader access translates into bigger allocations is a separate question. A survey of 301 registered investment advisers released in July – conducted by CION Investments, YCharts, and Compound Insights, not Cerulli – found that while 95% of advisers now hold alternatives in client portfolios, most keep allocations modest, with 61% citing liquidity concerns as the main obstacle to scaling further.
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