A Market Increasingly Defined by Integrated Capabilities and Strategic Positioning

Competing in wealth management has become more demanding over the last several years. Client expectations continue to rise, and firms are under increasing pressure to broaden capabilities while continuing to grow in a highly competitive market. Capabilities that once differentiated firms are becoming baseline expectations as the industry grows more sophisticated and operationally complex.

The first quarter of 2026 reflected how firms are responding to those pressures: smaller companies are looking to partner with larger platforms to bring these additional services to clients, and larger platforms continue to use M&A to expand into new verticals and add additional services. ECHELON tracked 142 wealth management transactions during 1Q26, surpassing the prior quarterly record of 125 set in 4Q24 and 3Q25. Average AUM per transaction reached $1.8 billion, the highest level since 2021, and total transacted AUM nearly doubled year-over-year to $1.67 trillion.

Specific acquirers are also pursuing M&A to expand geographically, looking to international markets to access new talent and new growth opportunities, especially those in regions where valuations may be lower than they are in the U.S.

Buyers Are Building Platforms, Not Aggregating Assets

Client expectations are expanding. Even less affluent investors are seeking advisors who can deliver a more integrated client experience that spans traditional wealth management, tax strategy, estate planning, retirement advisory, and other specialized capabilities that historically were offered only to UHNW individuals or through third parties. Advisory firms are adding these services to support broader and more durable client relationships.

The firms responding most aggressively to this shift use M&A to add capabilities more quickly than they could organically. Corebridge Financial’s merger with Equitable Holdings is one example of this trend toward vertical integration from 1Q26. The all-stock merger created a company that will offer retirement plan advisory, wealth management, and asset management capabilities within a single platform.

Subscale wealth management firms need to ask the following questions:

1. Am I currently providing all the services my clients need to maximize their financial well-being efficiently and effectively?
2. If not, do I have the resources, and am I willing to make the additional investment in my own firm to expand our current service offerings to help clients do so?

Advisory firms that do not have the resources (time and capital) to make the investments referenced above will continue to offer a narrower range of service offerings and may find it increasingly difficult to compete and therefore grow as client expectations across the industry continue to rise.

International Expansion Is Becoming a Battleground

Another defining trend from the quarter was the acceleration of cross-border M&A activity. Specific players in the U.S. wealth management market are looking to similar markets overseas to expand their customer bases and build additional scale via mergers and acquisitions that can likely be completed at lower valuations than those in the U.S. Creative Planning’s acquisitions of Swiss RIA Baseline Wealth Management and U.K.-based MASECO, and Arthur J. Gallagher’s acquisition of Australia-based Asset Partners Private Wealth are three examples of this trend.

Corient is another prominent RIA acquirer with its eyes set on continued international expansion. In late 2025 and early 2026, it announced acquisitions of Stonehage Fleming, Stanhope Capital Group, and Bedrock Group, three European-based firms with offices across Europe, plus some in the Middle East and Africa.

While international expansion inherently grows a firm’s addressable markets, provides access to new talent, and helps it build scale, any acquirer considering international expansion needs to ask: Can our firm really benefit from this scale? Can we integrate overseas businesses in vastly different regulatory and cultural environments to truly create added value for clients and partners?

What Comes Next: 2026 Outlook

ECHELON conservatively expects acquirers to announce 475 transactions in 2026. Buyer and seller interest will remain robust with both groups seeking to construct more integrated platforms with the wider service offerings clients are demanding.

New and existing acquirers will also continue to raise capital for additional M&A. Wealth management investments have been some of the best-performing, if not the best-performing, investments available to private equity and other financial sponsors, a fact that will keep attracting capital to the industry.

The ECHELON Insight

At-scale and sub-scale firms need to ask themselves different questions as they develop strategic plans for 2026 and beyond.

Scaled firms with the capacity and funding for M&A need to ponder how they can add the additional services clients are demanding to remain as competitive as possible in today’s M&A market while also ensuring they are building an enterprise that is integrated sufficiently to truly benefit from scale, not one that is merely adding assets for the sake of adding assets.

Smaller firms without the resources for M&A need to ask whether they have the infrastructure to support an organic growth engine comparable to that of larger platforms. If a firm is doubtful that it can generate organic growth higher than that of larger platforms, it should seek a partner to help it do so.

At ECHELON, we believe some of the most important strategic decisions a wealth manager makes happen well before the transaction process formally begins. The firms that prepare early tend to have more options when it counts.

Interested in discussing how these trends may impact your firm’s positioning or what they could mean for a future transaction? I would appreciate the opportunity to connect. Contact Sam directly at ssphire@echelon-partners.com.