After 20 years of growth, a new phase begins for financial advisory networks: the challenge from commercial banks

Milan, 16 July 2026 – After more than 20 years of growth, which led financial advisory networks to exceed €1,000 billion in assets under management in 2025, equal to 26.7% of the investable financial wealth of Italian households, the sector could be entering a new competitive phase.

This is demonstrated by the rapid growth in the number of financial advisers operating outside Assoreti, a sign that commercial banks are rediscovering the value of the off-premises financial advisory model and could increasingly represent a competitor for financial advisory networks that are independent of banking groups.

This is what emerges from Excellence Consulting’s “Banks and Networks 2021–2025” Report, which analyses data for the 2021–2025 period, reconstructs the evolution of the sector over the past 25 years and outlines its possible future trajectories.

The analysis carried out by the Milan-based Group highlights how, over the past 25 years, financial advisory networks have profoundly transformed the Italian financial advisory market. In 2000, there were approximately 70 intermediaries belonging to Assoreti, managing around €150 billion. Today, there are approximately 20 participating operators, as a result of a process of market aggregation and consolidation, but they administer more than €1,000 billion, confirming the central role of financial advisory networks within the national financial system.

Growth also remains very solid from an industrial perspective. Between 2000 and 2025, assets under administration and management increased by more than 560%, more than 6.7 times, exceeding the €1,000 billion threshold for the first time, while growth in 2025 amounted to 6.4%.

Net inflows reached €60.8 billion, an increase of 17.8% compared with the previous year. The client base exceeded 5.4 million, average productivity reached an all-time high of more than €41 million in assets per adviser, and more than 1,800 financial advisers were recruited in 2025, approximately half of whom were newly registered with the professional register and almost one third of whom came from banks and other operators.

At the same time, net inflows into managed products returned to representing 62% of total net inflows, after the low of 6% recorded in 2023.

In the future, however, the sector could enter a new, more competitive phase, with increasingly intense competition between financial advisory networks, which have become larger but are also required to manage structural developments such as generational transition and the integration of young talent into their networks, and commercial banks, which appear to have rediscovered the value of the off-premises financial advisory model as a driver of growth.

Between 2021 and 2025, the number of individuals registered with the OCF Register with an active mandate increased from 34,200 to 38,400, compared with an increase in advisers working within financial advisory networks from 20,800 to 23,300. It can therefore be inferred that approximately 15,000 advisers currently operate outside Assoreti networks.

“Over the past 25 years,” said Maurizio Primanni, CEO of Gruppo Excellence, “financial advisory networks have built one of the most important growth paths within the Italian financial system, helping to spread increasingly qualified and specialised financial advice. Today, however, a new phase is beginning, in which competition with commercial banks could become more intense. The real challenge for financial advisory networks, which are now larger and more complex, will be to maintain the capacity for innovation demonstrated over the years and the flexibility required to adapt to market developments.”

“The report,” said Antonello Di Mascio, Chief Research Officer of Gruppo Excellence, “confirms the strength of the financial advisory network model, which continues to grow in terms of assets, clients and productivity. At the same time, the competitive environment is evolving rapidly: commercial banks are increasing their investments in financial advice, the weight of administered savings is growing, and the commission-based profitability of assets is declining. For this reason, growth in scale will need to be accompanied by increasingly advanced advisory models capable of creating value.”