Few wealth managers in Europe may have heard of Ballentine, Finn, but the firm just topped the annual Bloomberg Top Wealth Manager rankings ...

Few wealth managers in Europe may have heard of Ballentine, Finn, but the firm just topped the annual Bloomberg Top Wealth Manager rankings by having the highest average client relationship in the US: a massive $59 million. Among the 500 ranked firms by Bloomberg, total assets under administration (fee and non-fee assets) grew 25.6 per cent to $220.3 billion in 2004. This number does not include any of the large private client groups in the US, which are excluded from the survey. This gives the reader some idea of just how big is the US wealth management market. The rankings showed there are now 40 firms reporting $1 billion or more of assets under administration in 2004, and a total of 106 with $500 million or more. That compares with last year’s ranking, when 26 advisory firms had more than $1 billion under administration, and only 72 oversaw $500 million or more. Second rank went to Chicago-based Valence Capital Group, which reported an average client relationship of $51.2 million. Third spot went to Los Angeles-based Quintile Investment Advisors, with an average of $44.5 million. The top ten with total assets under administration, where: Ballentine, Finn, with an average client relationship of $59 million, and total AUMs of $3.8 billion; Valence Capital Group, ACR of $51.2 million, and AUMs of $1.5 billion; Quintile Investment Advisors, ACR of $48.5 million, and AUMs of $1.2 billion; Threshold Group, ACR of $47.8 million, and AUMs of $670 million; BBR Partners , ACR of $45.1 million, and AUMs of $2 billion; SCS Financial Services, ACR of $33.8 million, and AUMs of $1.5 billion; Lydian Wealth Management, ACR of $32.9 million, and AUMs of $6.7 billion; Gresham Partners, ACR of $32.2 million, and AUMs of $2.2 billion; Silvercrest Asset Management, ACR of $29 million, and AUMs of $5.3 billion; and LakeSide Advisors, ACR of $27.3 million, and AUMs of $465 million. The survey found that managing growth was the single biggest issue when the managers were asked to identify the biggest challenge they face. But few want to grow through acquisition, with more than 76 per cent of the surveyed firms saying they had no intention of acquiring another firm in the next year. The second most frequently mentioned challenge that US wealth managers cite is the expense of complying with new and complex federal regulations. Advisory firms reported that their compliance costs rose 68.7 per cent last year.