RJ and Makay

When it comes to pricing, fee-based financial advisors simply aren't charging enough, suggest data from wealth management software firm PriceMetrix. The company drew this conclusion after analyzing 380 million transactions executed between 2007 and 2010 in 1 million fee-based accounts and 4 million transactional accounts.

“The most surprising thing to us was the wide range of prices charged for similar relationships on similar-sized fee-based accounts,” remarks PriceMetrix CEO Doug Trott. Fees progressively declined from an average of 1.17% on accounts ranging between $1 million and $2 million to 0.63% on accounts worth more than $5 million, Trott says. For accounts between $250,000 and $500,000, the lowest quartile of the advisors charged an average of 81 basis points while the highest quartile charged 208 basis points.

Most U.S. financial institutions expect their consumer lending businesses to grow or at least remain steady in 2011, a survey of more than 1,000 banking professionals shows. However, a soft economy and new regulations could hinder the lending business, say these professionals, who were polled in January by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

Of the survey respondents, 79% said their institution’s consumer loan volume would rise or stay the same this year. Only 5% predicted a decline and 16% weren’t sure. Institutions with more than $250 million in assets were most likely to anticipate increased loan volume. Respondents cited the following factors as potential hindrances to consumer lending in 2011: a soft economy (30%), stricter compliance regulations (24%), reduced loan demand (18%), and increased competition (17%).