BrokerDealer.com update profiles ThinkAdvisor.com 5th Annual survey of what independent BD presidents are really thinking…
For the fifth year, we asked the presidents of independent broker-dealers what’s on their minds.
Broker-dealer presidents are fierce competitors, and while they may cooperate in areas of advocacy—as they do notably as members of the Financial Services Institute—they all want nearly the same representatives. That’s their real business, after all: recruiting new reps, just as reps’ real business is recruiting new clients.
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For five years now, Investment Advisor has solicited independent broker-dealer leaders for their opinions on the challenges facing their firms, and the main challenges facing their reps, in both the shorter term and the longer term.
We present the findings of this year’s survey in the pages that follow, but with five years of data in our hands, we think we can discern a few patterns as well.
Here’s an example: Each year, we asked the presidents which association or organization best represented the IBD industry’s interests, especially in the nation’s capital. In the first few years, FSI was cited first by 80% of respondents, SIFMA and FINRA were in the high single digits and the FPA was even mentioned by 5% of the presidents. This year and last, however, the now 11-year-old FSI is in the high 80% range, while FPA was cited by exactly zero presidents. Other answers have changed over the past five years, and we invite you to visit ThinkAdvisor.com to see additional charts on what has changed in our Broker-Dealer Presidents Poll.
Questions posed:
1. What issue do you feel is the most challenging to your firm businesswise in the short term (next 18 months)?
2. What issue do you feel is the most challenging to your firm businesswise in the long term (next three to five years and beyond)?
3. What issue do you feel is the most challenging to individual reps in the short term (next 18 months)?
4. What issue do you feel is the most challenging to individual reps over the long term (next three to five years and beyond)?
5. Which industry association/entity do you feel is most essential to advancing your point of view, especially in Washington, D.C.?
6. Are you confident that the independent broker-dealer model will remain viable?
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