The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority continues to see a decline in the number of registered representatives and registered broker-dealers.
The total number of registered representatives has been steadily declining since 2015, at which time there were 639,442; there were 617,549 in 2020, a loss of 21,893 reps, according to Finra's 2021 industry snapshot.
Of the total number of registered reps in 2020, 317,936 were registered broker-dealers and 299,613 were dually registered with B-Ds and RIAs. Additionally, there were 69482 individuals registered as investment advisor representatives.
The data shows that while firms are constantly entering and leaving the industry, the shift has not been dramatic. The movement has been up and down over the years. In 2016, for example, 231 firms left the industry; 205 in 2017; 219 in 2018; 206 in 2019; and 210 in 2020.
As for those entering the industry, there was a drop from 2016 to 2017 (123 to 96), but increases over the next three years—100, 116 and 128, respectively.
There has also been a steady decline in the number of branches, according to Finra. In 2016, there was a total of 159,464 branches and in 2020 there were 152,861.
Finra’s snapshot shows the five states with the most registered firms are New York (1,482), California (948), Florida (690), Illinois (616) and Texas (609). The five states with the most branches are California (948), Texas (10,845), New York (9,962), Florida (10,700) and Illinois (7,034).
Finra registered firms had aggregate revenue of $362 billion in 2020, down from $388 billion in 2019. Aggregate expenses were $284.7 million, down from $344 million in 2019, the data showed.