The success of the independent advisory business has got the leaders of the custodial business nervous.

The need to attract younger investors together with the ubiquity of independent advice providers will force advisors to think about new ways to differentiate themselves, according to the heads of RIA custody units at Fidelity, Schwab and Pershing, who spoke Wednesday at the MarketCounsel Summit conference in Las Vegas.

“I’m a little bit anxious about our success,” said Bernie Clark, head of Schwab Advisor Services.

The industry has been able to distinguish itself by focusing on the fiduciary debate, he said, but “we will be challenged to differentiate ourselves in the future. … Certainly regulators are trying to force us into a traditional model.”

And custodians themselves could face more competition.

“Because of the success of this profession, I think we’ll see a large wirehouse firm buy a large RIA firm within the next 10 years,” said Mark Tibergien, head of Pershing Advisor Solutions.

But the traditional firms would be challenged to figure out how to pay advisors while not losing too much existing revenue.

“Merrill Lynch tried [the RIA custody business] several times, and it atrophied completely” due to cost pressures, said Clark.

Acquisitions of large RIAs by banks have not worked out because the banks haven’t allowed the advisory firms to operate independently enough, Clark added. Joining a large organization “often [means] becoming [managed to] the least common denominator,” he said.

The main question custodians need to answer is “where is the future stickiness going to come from” in terms of attracting and retaining advisors, said Mike Durbin, president of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services.

“We are rapidly being commoditized,” he said.

The answer might be in developing a larger role in aggregating client data and offering holistic reporting, Durbin said.

Another element might be enhanced technology, Tibergien added, especially with the help of  technology vendors.

Much of what custodians themselves spend on technology is simply to meet compliance needs, he said. “The opportunity to truly innovate often comes from external providers,” Tibergien said.

Robo-advisors are the latest—and most troubling—technology development, at least for some advisors. A show of hands among conference attendees showed at least half felt threatened by the robo platforms.

But the three executives downplayed the potential impacts.

“I think the headlines around robo-advisors were curiously around the same time we saw headlines for Ebola,” Tibergien said. “Probably like Ebola, the threat [isn’t] so great.”

Advisors need to think about the way client experiences are changing, partly driven by younger clients, he said.

Durbin echoed that assessment. “I’ve been surprised how quickly the [robo] debate went from us-versus-them to … us-and-them,” he said. Robo platforms are “here to stay. They represent a fantastic solution [to] build more collaborative … relationships with clients.”

Fidelity recently announced a partnership with the robo firm Betterment, which is running a pilot program with six Fidelity-affiliated RIA firms.