So-called "mega teams" in the US wealth advisory space are making the running in terms of client acquisition and market share, a report says.

Wealth advisor teams with $500 million or more in client assets are expanding market share and reinforcing the notion that the US market is in some ways becoming more concentrated, according to a report.

A study by Cerulli Associates looks at the category of "mega teams". These teams account for 11 per cent of advisor practices but serve almost two-thirds of total advisor-managed assets.

Though the wirehouses and hybrid registered investment advisors have the greatest concentration of these teams, their influence is steadily growing throughout the industry. The asset growth of independent RIA mega firms over the past five years (2012-2017) has surpassed that of their smaller peers in the channel.

Similarly, among wirehouse practices, mega teams have expanded their collective AuM by 19 per cent over the past five years, while all other AuM tiers ceded assets.

The report fits with a noted consolidation trend among some parts of the US wealth management space, although newly launched RIAs, for example, are also a feature of a market in transition towards more fee-based advisory models.

The report predicts that these teams will win opportunities for organic growth - such as by client referrals and acquisitions - as advisors look to join with others to win certain benefits, such as economies of scale. More than than half (54 per cent) of all advisors operate in a team structure.

Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of advisors believe that teaming improves the client experience.

The findings appear in The Cerulli Report - US Advisor Metrics 2018: Reinventing the Client Experience.

Figures issued in January this year showed that more US-registered investment advisors were bought and sold during the fourth quarter of last year and average deal sizes continued to grow. There was a total of 44 consummated transactions in the final three months of 2018, which means that last year was the sixth straight record year of RIA dealflow, according to ECHELON Partners, a wealth management capital firm.