The week's defining thread was movement: of advisors, of custody assets and of ownership. Wirehouse attrition data, Fidelity's new custody threshold and a steady run of RIA deals all pointed the same way, toward independent and hybrid structures that are competing harder for talent and for clients.
Start with the wirehouses. InvestmentNews reported, citing Diamond Consultants, that the four wirehouse firms lost 1,449 experienced advisors and recruited 932 in the first six months of 2026. Wealth Solutions Report and WealthManagement.com put the net loss at 517 across Merrill, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo. WealthManagement.com added that the headline figure masks the size of the teams leaving and differences by firm. Financial Planning, citing a Cerulli Associates survey, said pay matters to advisors changing firms but is not their top priority, a useful caution for firms trying to win those advisors.
The destinations were visible in the week's moves. InvestmentNews reported that Wells Fargo FiNet landed a $580 million team from Ameriprise, and that LPL Financial and Raymond James added independent advisors from Osaic and Edward Jones. Wealth Solutions Report said LPL picked up a $1.1 billion team, Praxis Financial Partners, from Wells Fargo. WealthManagement.com reported that four practices with more than $1 billion joined Dallas-based Ascentis Independent from Raymond James while keeping Raymond James as their primary custodian. InvestmentNews also reported that Carson Group entered New Jersey with a $410 million deal for Foran Financial Group, with the Somerville firm leaving LPL for planning resources and technology it said would have taken years to build.
The second major story was Fidelity's decision to raise its minimum for RIAs to $100 million. Kitces.com noted that affected firms have until June 30, 2027 to reach the threshold or begin leaving. WealthManagement.com reported that Fidelity expects the change to affect a few hundred firms and puts the assets involved at less than 1% of its total clearing and custody assets. Competitors moved quickly: WealthManagement.com said Schwab, Axos and Betterment, along with some RIA platforms, are courting those advisors. RIABiz reported that Schwab's custody head said his firm already serves 11,000 micro-practices, and InvestmentNews said Betterment is waiving a fee through 2028 to win the business. Financial Planning ran practical pieces on custody options and on how to avoid months-long transitions.
Consolidation pressure surfaced from the other side as well. RIABiz reported that XY Planning Network recruiting has spiked as advisors leave rollups, with solo shops launching at a pace of nearly two a day. Yet deal activity stayed brisk. WealthManagement.com reported that Hightower Signature Wealth folded in a $1 billion Michigan RIA, pushing its W-2 RIA channel past $40 billion, and that the $1.1 billion Hightower Naples joined The Bahnsen Group. The same outlet said $5 billion Trilogy landed a Colorado RIA focused on aviation workers, its largest acquisition of the year, and that Aspen Standard Wealth added a $1 billion Louisiana RIA as its tenth acquisition. Merit Financial added its tenth Commonwealth advisor, a practice with $1.1 billion, and AlphaCore bought Blue Rock, which Wealth Solutions Report said has over $400 million.
Capital and infrastructure moves rounded out the picture. WealthManagement.com said Mercer Advisors completed a $1.9 billion debt refinancing and added a $340 million credit facility, entering the syndicated loan market for the first time. It also reported that Cresset plans to fold its $5.4 billion trust business into the $7.7 billion National Advisors Trust platform. InvestmentNews reported that fintech veterans launched Singularity, an operating company that takes ownership stakes in advisory firms, and Alaris CEO Allen Darby warned that buyers spending on AI may price rightsizing costs into lower offers for less efficient sellers.
Technology and platform news carried its own tension. WealthManagement.com reported that Orion introduced a monthly Connected Ecosystem Support Fee, setting off debate among vendors over who ultimately bears the cost. Alto agreed to buy Forge Trust from Schwab, WealthManagement.com reported, about a year after Schwab bought Forge's parent. M1 launched a free AI advice service operating under a fiduciary duty with no human advisors, according to WealthManagement.com, and Kitces.com flagged the debut of Claude for Financial Advisors, asking whether tech providers will cooperate.
Regulation was active but secondary. InvestmentNews reported that the SEC charged Caris Investment Partners in an alleged cherry-picking scheme, saying 95.8% of house trades were winners against 14.9% for clients. WealthManagement.com said former Western Asset co-CIO Ken Leech agreed to a $3 million fine without admitting the SEC's allegations. FINRA fined Revere Securities $800,000 for AML and supervisory failures tied to small-cap IPOs, and the SEC announced a November 19 compliance outreach seminar.
The connecting argument is that scale and independence are being repriced at the same time. Wirehouses are shedding teams, a major custodian is narrowing its client base, and advisors are weighing rollup deals against solo or small-firm models. Next week raises open questions: will the official Social Security COLA announcement on October 14 reshape client income conversations, how many Fidelity-custodied RIAs publicly pick new homes, and will Orion's fee draw pushback from RIAs or vendors?