Wealth managers and family offices counting on the tough times wirehouses are going through to help boost business had better not hold their breath, according to new research by Cerulli Associates.

Wirehouse teams that cater to high net worth and ultra high net worth clients are more formidable than ever, said Cerulli director Bing Waldert, and are unlikely to split anytime soon.

“The largest wirehouse teams control about 80 per cent of wirehouse assets, or $3 trillion,” said Mr Waldert said. “They are major players in the high net worth space and will continue to be so for years to come. This is part of a multi-year push by wirehouses towards fee-based pricing and a more consultative versus sales approach,” he said.

The top-tier wirehouse teams manage at least $200 million in assets under management and include about four advisers, one of whom is an asset management specialist, plus two administrative assistants, according to Cerulli’s December US asset management report,

The size of the team and their institutional resources allows them to “offer a broader set of services to investors, and their network of external specialists make them ideal for investors with over $1 million in net worth”, according to the Boston-based research firm.

“The dirty little secret is that for all the talk of breakaway brokers, there’s really no economic advantage for the top teams to leave a wirehouse,” said Danny Sarch, president of Leitner Sarch Consultants, a prominent New York-based executive search firm for advisers.

“They can own their own firm and have control, but after they get through paying for overhead and expenses, it’s not life-changing money for them leave,” Mr Sarch said. “It’s probably a wash at best.”

Nonetheless, after the past 16 months, even the loyalty of top Merrill Lynch, UBS, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokers and advisers has waned, Mr Sarch pointed out.

“More of the top producers are exploring a hybrid model like Hightower or Focus, where they can have support, but also have equity,” he said.

In fact, Cerulli is projecting wirehouse market share of the U.S. asset management market will drop from 48 per cent in 2008 to 41 per cent in 2012.

But, Mr Waldert said, “The smaller producers are the ones most likely to leave. And 41 per cent is till much bigger than anyone else.”