When it comes to distribution in the RIA channel, fundsters at the biggest firms are more focused on the biggest targets, according to new research from the folks at an industry consulting firm near Boston.

Loren Fox Fuse Research Network LLC Director of Research

On Tuesday (January 6), Loren Fox, director of research at Fuse Research Network, revealed findings from the Needham, Massachusetts-based firm's inaugural Covering RIAs: How Aggregators Are Changing Firms' Strategy report. That report was released on December 18 and draws on surveys of national accounts leaders (in April and May of last year) and sales leaders (in September and October) who represent a combined $6 trillion in mutual fund and ETF AUM.

The Fuse team asked fundsters how their allocate their time in the RIA channel. On average, asset managers spend 41 percent of their RIA channel time focused on small and boutique RIAs, 37 percent on aggregators and other mega RIAs, and 22 percent on TAMPs and RIA custodians.

Yet those findings vary dramatically by asset manager size. At the biggest asset managers (those with more than $100 billion each in mutual fund and/or ETF AUM), 63 percent of their RIA channel time is focused on the mega RIAs, while only 22 percent is on boutique RIAs and 16 percent on custodians and TAMPs. (Fox notes that aggregators now account for 49 percent of all assets in the RIA channel, hence big fund firms' interest.)

On the flip size, midsize fund firms (those with between $25 billion and $100 billion each in mutual fund and/or ETF AUM), small RIAs get 47 percent of their time, versus 31 percent for aggregators and giants, and 23 percent for TAMPs and custodians. And for small asset managers (those with less than $25 billion each in mutual fund and/or ETF AUM), 52 percent of their time is focused on boutiques, 28 percent on custodians and TAMPs, and only 20 percent on the big firms.

"Smaller firms remain more focused on boutique RIAs, which are more accessible to traditional wholesaling and less reliant on investment decisions centralized in the home office," Fox tells MFWire via email.

Fox's insights support the focus smaller asset managers have on small RIAs.

"Because many aggregators centralize decisions at the home office, they are often very picky about the product providers with which they work," Fox writes. "Therefore, any RIA coverage strategy should spend ample time on mid-size and small RIAs, as they are often more approachable by wholesalers and more diverse in their manager selection." 

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