Top BD Execs Predict What Industry Will Look Like in 10 Years

A panel of top BD executives gave their predictions on what the industry will look like 10 years from now — as well as what it will take for advisors and broker-dealers to survive that long.

Tony Batman, chairman and CEO of 1^st Global, said that hybrid advisors were best suited to serve clients’ many needs. Amy Webber, president and COO of Cambridge Investment Research, agreed that the hybrid model was the “best” one.

Both Batman and Wayne Bloom, CEO of Commonwealth Financial Network, also agreed that those advisors who can master wealth decumulation — as accumulation becomes passé for retiring clients — will fare well. Advisors who can successfully move from the accumulation phase to the decumulation phase and “do this well and provide retirement income will generate assets,” Bloom said.

Added Batman: “Wealth decumulation is complicated, but our industry is the only one with the answers.”

While all three noted the importance of technology to firms’ survival, Bloom noted that advisors will also be dealing with a “different set of clients,” and that they will have to develop “new communication skills.”