Still, net new money flows to RIA custody providers seem to bolster the view that the RIA channel has prospered at the expense of wirehouses.
Fidelity, which says it onboarded a record 191 broker teams to its RIA platform in 2009, has seen "several billion dollars" a year in net new money under management from wirehouse brokers since 2004, according to a spokesman.
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW), which runs the biggest RIA-custody business, is more specific about net new money, but hazier on its origins. In 2008 and 2009 its Advisor Services unit took in $101.5 billion in net new assets as its overall assets under management went from $570 billion to about $590 billion.
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