This is an AArete Financial Services insight

Last year, the RIA industry saw record-breaking M&A activity, fueled by election results in November that sparked optimism around opportunities considering the expected bold economic changes ahead. The fourth quarter recorded the highest transaction volume in RIA industry history, exceeding the previous peak of 2022.

Momentum carried into early 2025, with January and February showing strong deal volume. March continued the trend with notable mid-market transactions, though a slight slowdown began to emerge toward the end of the month as new economic policy signals took hold. This shift suggests that, despite strong long-term interest, short-term uncertainty may temporarily dampen deal activity until market signals stabilize.

What’s Driving This?

It’s no surprise that M&A has become a dominant strategy in the RIA space. More important, however, is why it continues to accelerate. Key internal drivers, succession challenges, evolving client expectations, and the growing power of scale are converging more sharply than ever.

Many firms now face critical succession decisions, with the next generation often unable or unwilling to buy out current leadership. At the same time, clients are demanding more comprehensive, tech-enabled solutions. Smaller and mid-sized firms may struggle to keep up with what larger platforms can offer. And, of course, scale brings advantages in cost efficiency, digital transformation, and operational consistency, further pressuring independent players.

Leading firms have capitalized on current conditions, expanding their footprints through acquisitions and operational consolidation making them more attractive to both investors and clients. But the current pause in deal activity driven by policy uncertainty and market volatility has created a natural inflection point. Many firms are asking: What now?

Internal Optimization Opportunities

This is the moment to look inward. If external growth is temporarily on hold, the smartest play may be to optimize internally while others wait. We’re seeing RIAs channel their energy and capital into initiatives that make them more agile, more scalable, and ultimately more valuable regardless of when the next transaction occurs.

Some of the highest-impact internal efforts we’ve seen include:

• Acquisition Synergy Capture: To unlock greater value from prior M&A activity by reviewing historical M&A data and identifying opportunities to better integrate operations, eliminate redundancies, and enhance service capabilities across the combined firm. For example, a $4B AUM RIA is working to utilize this downtime to focus on both the successes and shortcomings of their previous 16 acquisitions to gain insight into their projected vs. actual integration achievement and better model future acquisitions
• Client Experience Transformation: To improve client satisfaction and retention by modernizing touchpoints and delivering more personalized, consistent service. Respectively, one firm is evaluating current infrastructure gaps through a tech + ops maturity heatmap to build a scalable roadmap for client engagement by implementing automaton where necessary but providing human touch where it still matters.
• Advisor and Client Technology Adoption: To boost productivity and engagement through streamlined, user-friendly digital tools that enhance both advisor workflows and client interactions. For instance, the RIA business unit of a Fortune 100 Financial Services firm has implemented an AI chat tool to their wealth advisor’s platform to better interact with and achieve more tailored solutions for their clients.
• M&A Strategy Process Review: To sharpen a firm’s acquisition approach by identifying gaps, standardizing evaluation criteria, and aligning deals with strategic growth objectives. For example, a $4B AUM RIA utilizes data gathered from their acquisition synergy capture to implement additional selection and modeling criteria to their M&A Strategy Process.
• Operating System Streamlining: To increase efficiency and scalability by simplifying internal processes and reducing operational friction.
• Ecosystem Access and Utilization: To enhance service offerings and competitive positioning by leveraging broader industry networks, partnerships, and platforms. To cite one case, a regional wealth management firm partnered with a leading fintech platform and several alternative investment providers within its ecosystem, enabling access to cutting-edge portfolio analytics and exclusive investment products. This strategic move expanded the firm’s service offering and positioned it as a high-value advisor to ultra-high-net-worth clients seeking bespoke financial solutions.
• Expanding Alternative Investment Access and Onboarding Efficiency: To broaden client portfolio options while reducing friction in the investment onboarding process, supporting deeper client relationships and potential fee-based revenue.
• Cost Management Transformation: To improve profitability and reinvestment capacity by identifying and reducing structural and discretionary costs. As evidence, a large, mature, RIA engaged a third-party consultant to drive cost reduction/procurement and business process support to capitalize on opportunities across the business. The team was responsible for negotiating contracts, enhancing critical business processes, and supporting new supplier relationships which resulted in $10.4M in annual savings across 31 suppliers.
• Enhancing Distribution and Market Positioning: To drive growth by strengthening the firm’s presence in target markets and optimizing go-to-market strategies.
• Dashboarding: To enhance decision-making and transparency by providing real-time visibility into key performance metrics across operations, client engagement, and financial performance. To illustrate, a large RIA consolidator is working with a tech consulting firm to build a bespoke dashboarding and reporting function for both clients and advisors to ensure that the acquired firm’s and partner’s data are being captured to make strategic and impactful decisions.

Taking Steps Today

Whether you lead an independent RIA or a large consolidator, now is the time to conduct a thorough internal review. A pause in market momentum is not a reason for inertia loss, it’s an opportunity for preparation. That next step can take the shape of many different internally focused initiatives—from reviewing historical M&A activity to enhance integration processing, to evaluating how well your platform is being accessed and utilized by advisors across the firm.

The key takeaway: progress is possible despite broader economic uncertainty.

By partnering with the right strategic advisor, firms can navigate uncertainty with clarity—and position themselves for success in the next wave of industry transformation.

About AArete

AArete is a global management and technology consulting firm that partners with Registered Investment Advisors to drive profitability improvement, enable digital transformation, and support strategic growth. With a data-driven approach, deep market intelligence, and a digital-first mindset, we deliver tailored solutions that generate actionable insights, lasting value, and measurable results.

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Meet The Author

Marc Maurizi

Director