The number of registered investment advisors (RIAs) working in the United States grew annually during the last decade. These advisors are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or a securities' administrator of the state in which they practice. In 2023, the number of registered investment advisors reached ******. Why register? Registration as an RIA gives advisors an advantage in the job market. As with any licensing process, this registration keeps other less-qualified advisors from entering the job market. This means that advisory firms that employ RIAs have an advantage because they can guarantee a level of quality based on the licensing process. The role of financial advisors RIAs work primarily for high-net-worth individuals. They manage the portfolios of their clients, using their knowledge to select a mix of financial instruments such as stocks or bonds that have the best outlook. An advisor with a proven track record can earn a generous fee, and many also enjoy a proportion of the profits from the portfolios they manage. However, technology threatens their role. Many investors are turning to robo-investment apps and automated advisors. These robo-advisors choose portfolios based on algorithms and therefore can offer lower fees.

As of 2023, customer relationship management (CRM) was considered the most valuable software by financial planning and investment advisory firms worldwide. At that time, CRM software was perceived as the most important program by almost ** percent of advisory firms worldwide.

The largest registered investment advisor (RIA) firms in the U.S. were not necessarily the firms with the highest value of assets per client. Among the leading 15 firms in 2021,Fiducient Advisors ranked first in terms of assets per client, with a value of around 65.3 million U.S. dollars per client, but was ranked the 13th largest RIA firm in the U.S. by total managed assets. The largest RIA, CAPTRUST, had assets per client worth around 29.3 million U.S. dollars.

The leading registered investment advisor companies (RIA) in the United States in 2023, by managed assets, was CAPTRUST, based in Raleigh. CAPTRUST had approximately 852 billion U.S. dollars of assets under management in 2023, and was followed by Edelman Financial Engines, with assets under management of around 270 billion U.S. dollars.

The leading investment data or analytics tool used by advisory firms worldwide in 2025 was by far Morningstar Advisor Workstation, with over ** percent of the market. YCharts followed, with market share of nearly ** percent.

In 2025, eMoney led the global financial planning software market, being used by over ** percent of surveyed financial planning and advisory companies worldwide. MoneyGuidePro held second place with a market share of ***** percent, and Right Capital ranked third, with a market share of ***** percent.

In 2023, Goldman Sachs & Co. was the leading financial advisor on SPAC acquisitions in the United States in terms of the transaction value of deals completed. The rise of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) acquisitions is creating new business for many of the world's largest investment banks, and the U.S. was the most active region for SPAC IPOs globally in 2023. The total value of deals Goldman Sachs & Co advised on exceeded *** billion U.S. dollars. Rise in popularity of SPACs since 2020 SPACs are public companies with no commercial operations, which raise money from investors via an IPO and then aim to merge or acquire a private company. This allows the private company to go public outside of the traditional IPO process, which is generally slower and involves a lengthier auditing process. The number of SPAC IPOs in the U.S. rapidly increased in 2020 and they remained a popular option for a private company to get listed in 2021. Significantly more money was raised during this time, which means that the SPACs had greater capital to invest into their subsequent M&A deals with private companies. Which sectors are the most popular targets for SPACs? SPACs having more capital on hand has also increased the size of SPAC M&A deals globally. SPACs typically target private companies in a particular sector for acquisitions. In 2020, SPACs in the U.S. targeting the technology sector raised significantly more funds than those targeting other sectors.

The leading financial advisory firm to merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in terms of value in Italy in 2024 was JP Morgan. The firm emerged as the leading advisor to M&A deals in the country, with a total value amounting to almost 32.5 billion U.S. Goldman Sachs and UniCredit followed closely, with a deal value of 30 billion U.S. dollars each.

In 2024, CAPTRUST was the largest registered investment advisory firm in the United States by assets under management. The assets under management (AUM) of CAPTRUST amounted to over *** billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2023. What funds do RIAs manage? RIAs cater mostly to high net worth individuals. The asset allocation of high net worth individuals included equity, cash equivalents, and real estate. The most affluent of these, the ultra-high net worth individuals, are concentrated in the United States, giving U.S.-based RIAs access to a large pool of assets to manage. The investment industry There are thousands of RIAs in the United States. In addition to advising clients on the economic environment and their investment options, the most successful RIAs learn how to adjust to their clients’ preferences. For example, these clients have their favorite communication channels that vary by generation. Under such circumstances, it pays to know whether an e-mail or phone call is more appropriate for client communication.

In 2024, Goldman Sachs Group was the leading financial advisor to merger and acquisition (M&A) deals worldwide and managed M&A deals worth nearly *** billion U.S. dollars. Investment banking is one of Goldman Sachs' major business segments.

As of 2025, there were *** investment advisory firms operating in Japan. In comparison to discretionary investment advisory firms, which conduct investment management, their services are limited to advisory services.

The global financial advisory market, which is instrumental in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), was valued at **** billion U.S. dollars in 2016. This valuation has increased steadily since 2011. This advising helps firms integrate with other firms, either through horizontal integration (mergers) or vertical integration (acquisitions).

Why is M&A important?

Economies of scale is the idea that some industries are more efficient when firms are larger. Investment banks facilitate these M&A deals. This allows the firms involved to become more profitable, and the investment banks generate a large portion of their revenue from these activities.

M&A deals

The largest M&A deals can exceed 100 million U.S. dollars in value. Since some sectors are more suited for integration, the value of deals depends on the industry . The leading investment banks monitor these industries closely. Participating in these deals generates significant revenues for these banks, giving them incentive to find companies that are ready for the process.

In the first three quarters of 2023, the leading financial advisory firm for merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in Ireland was Citi. This firm advised on deals worth over 24 billion U.S. dollars during this period. Lazard ranked second, with deals worth 23.44 billion U.S. dollars, while Goldman Sachs closely followed, with value amounting to 23.2 billion U.S. dollars.

This statistic presents the leading financial advisory firms (including investment banks) to merger and acquisition deals in Central and Eastern European countries in the first half of 2019, ranked by deal count. In that time, Deloitte and City emerged as the leading advisors to M&A deals in the CEE region, with a transaction count of nine and eight deals respectively in the first half of 2019. Despite leading the way in terms of the number of deals, neither Ernst & Young (EY) or Deloitte made it into the top ten financial advisors list in terms of value of deals in the first half of 2019.

In the first three quarters of 2023, the leading financial advisory firm to merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in Finland was Danske Bank, with deals worth **** billion U.S. dollars. Nordea and Bank of America followed closely each other, each amounting to approximately * billion U.S. dollars.

In both the first three quarters of 2022 and 2023, PwC was the leading financial advisory firm for merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the Nordic region, in terms of deal count, despite the volume dropping from *** deals to **. EY ranked second, with a total of ** deals advised in the first three quarters of 2023.

In the United Kingdom (UK), in 2024, the leading financial advisor to merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions was K3 Capital. Throughout the year, the firm advised on *** deals. Grant Thornton and BDO were two other leading M&A advisors in the UK, with deal volumes of *** and ***, respectively.

In the first three quarters of 2023, PwC was the leading financial advisory firm in merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in Finland, in terms of deal count. PwC advised on a total of ** M&A deals during this period, followed closely by Dankse Bank and Carner Corporate Finance, with ** deals and ** deals, respectively.

In the first three quarters of 2023, PwC was the leading financial advisory firm for merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in Spain, in terms of deal count. This firm advised on a total of 67 deals during this period. Deloitte ranked second, with a total of 57 deals advised. The third place in the ranking was completed by KPMG, with 29 deals.

In 2024, the leading financial advisor to merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the United States was *************. The value of announced M&A deals advised on by ************* during 2024 amounted to more than *** billion U.S. dollars. Second in the ranking was **************, followed by ***************.