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 reps 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 69,482 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 firms left 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 there were increases over the next three years—of 100, 116 and 128 firms, respectively.
There has also been a steady decline in the number of branches, according to Finra. In 2016, there were 159,464 branches and in 2020 there were 152,861.
Finra’s snapshot shows that five states have the most registered firms: New York (with 1,482 firms), California (948 firms), Florida (690 firms), Illinois (616 firms) and Texas (609 firms). The five states with the most branches are California (with 948 branches), 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.