The number of investment advisors registered with the SEC fell this year from last year, but it’s mainly a regulatory matter rather than a mass exodus for the door. According to a report issued last month by the Investment Adviser Association and National Regulatory Services, the total number of investment advisors registered with the SEC was 10,511 as of July 16. That’s down nearly 9% from 11,539 the year befire.

The reason for the flux is twofold. First, roughly 2,400 RIAs switched to state registration and regulation because of a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that raised the threshold for SEC regulation to $100 million in assets under management from $25 million. That was partially offset by another Dodd-Frank provision requiring certain private fund advisors to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act. That added more than 1,500 RIAs under SEC control.

Despite the drop, total regulatory assets under management (RAUM) reported by all investment advisors as of July 16 were $49.4 trillion, or a nearly 13% jump from the prior year.

David Tittsworth, executive director of the IAA, noted that the new registration requirements haven’t altered the basic characteristics of the advisory business––namely, that larger RIAs control a huge chunk of the overall assets and that most RIAs are small businesses. He said the 90 largest RIAs, or those managing at least $100 billion in RAUM, managed almost half of total RAUM, while 664 RIAs with at least $10 billion in RAUM managed nearly 83% of total assets. Meanwhile, 74% of advisors said they manage less than $1 billion in assets.

According to John Gebauer, managing director at the compliance services company NRS, SEC-registered investment advisors have more than 759,000 employees and serve more than 23 million individual and institutional clients. The results were found in the 12th annual Evolution/Revolution report put out by the IAA and NRS.