You really can put a dollar figure on investor trust.

That’s a lesson some brokers are learning the hard way when their businesses sell for significantly less than the investment advisor firm down the street. In several particularly newsworthy transactions this year, brokers netted less than half of what similar advisors have commanded—in part, experts say, because brokers aren’t governed by fiduciary rules that require them to put their clients’ best interests first.

Brokers’ sales prices are slipping. Case in point: LPL Financial’s recent acquisition of National Planning Holdings, a deal which paid the indie broker-dealer significantly less than 1x its one-year revenues. That is half or even less than the sales prices advisor firms are commanding, said Michael E. Kitces, a national consultant and co-founder of XY Planning Network, which provides technology, compliance and training for 535 independent advisors.

“When LPL bought out National Planning, they got paid 70% of one year’s revenue and that’s only on a contingency deal [that hinges on 72% of assets being transferred to LPL],” Kitces told advisors, regulators and advocates at TD Waterhouse’s Advocacy Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. on Friday.

On average, brokers’ books of business are trading at 1x revenues compared to advisor firms, which are fetching 1.5x to 2.5x revenues, Kitces said.

One reason for that is because investment advisors have a long track record of putting client interests first as a result of the fiduciary duty made explicit in the Investment Adviser Act of 1940.

Brokers have no such history. The U.S. Department of Labor law requiring brokers to put clients’ best interests first only applies only to retirement accounts. The rule went into effect in part in January, but several important parts of the rule may be delayed until January 2019 as a result of a DOL delay request.

The brokerage industry has fought a fiduciary rule for years. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which says it will now work to create a best interest standard, has failed for more than seven years to do so for brokers.

As a result, brokers’ customer assets—gathered mainly through commission-based sales—have long been perceived to be less sticky or loyal, thus less valuable, than the fee-based asset accounts of advisors, for which clients pay recurring fees.

There are a number of variables that go into valuing a firm, but “the future is fiduciary. It’s global. Embrace it. It’s more valuable anyway,” Kitces said.

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