Ranking RIAs by financial advisor headcount; Jim Crowley of Pershing on fintech

RIA LEADERS 2023: ? Fee-only RIAs may not have tens of thousands of financial advisors at their firms, but they're drawing many away from the giants of wealth management who do have that many.

A continuing flow of independent advisors who leave wirehouses and other brokerages for big registered investment advisory firms are opting for the other channel of the industry in order to find "a degree of autonomy" and "offload a lot of the administrative tasks you don't want to take on as an entrepreneur," according to Andrew Besheer, the director of the wealth management practice at consulting firm Datos Insights . Financial Planning's annual RIA Leaders study identified 10 firms as the fee-only RIAs with the most advisors.

Read: These are the 10 largest fee-only RIAs, ranked by advisor headcount

FINTECH @ PERSHING: With so many firms offering technology products to advisors and brokers, the latest entry may not seem worthy of much attention. But when the company that's putting forward the new system is Pershing — by far one of the largest custodians of advisor assets in the industry — maybe it is time to sit up and take notice.

Jim Crowley, global head of Pershing at BNY Mellon, talked with Financial Planning about Wove, Lincoln Investment's decision to bring all its business over and larger trends in the custody business.?

Read: Pershing's Crowley on how his firm's Wove tech system won over Lincoln Investment

WHAT TECH'S PH.D. CEO CAN TEACH US: The more he is asked to detail the long list of accomplishments that comprise his 27-year wealthtech career, the more Hailin Li adjusts his glasses and shrinks in his Zoom window as a shy smile spreads across his clean-shaven face.

It's not a reaction that comes from discomfort or a lack of confidence. The former senior vice president of advisor solutions at Morningstar who left the firm to found Advyzon back in 2012 is every bit the industry leader that his résumé suggests. But after a few moments of discussing work, it's evident that Li is a man who prefers walking the walk over talking the talk. He's perpetually thinking of new ways to support advisors and is eager to roll up his sleeves and get dirty to make it happen, C-suite status aside. That's because for Li, the hard work is just as fulfilling as the payoff.

Read:? Advyzon's Hailin Li is a DIY CEO who never stops asking 'why?'

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