Los Angeles, October 27th / PRNewswire / —– ECHELON Partners today released its third-quarter 2026 RIA merger and acquisition report, indicating that wealth management M&A is still on track to set annual records. The ECHELON team has counted 125 deals announced this quarter¹, which is on par with the record for the most active third quarter set in 2025, and together with the 142 deals announced in the first quarter of 2026, it ranks as the second-highest quarter in history. A total of 387 deals were announced in the first nine months of 2026, setting a new record for that period, representing a 12.2% increase from the same period in 2025. The total value of assets acquired this quarter reached 389 billion US dollars.
The report indicates that the market is well-capitalized, and the division of roles among various parties is becoming increasingly clear. Private equity firms, as direct investors or buyer sponsors, participated in 102 out of 125 transactions this quarter. Sponsors provided capital to large platforms through minority equity investments, while strategic acquirers—almost all supported by private equity—were responsible for completing the acquisitions. This report also includes an executive summary by CEO of ECHELON Partners, who serves as CEO and managing partner, as well as an overview of the RIA merger and acquisition activities ( RIA M & A Activity Continuum ). Together, these elements place the transactions announced this quarter within a longer-term context.
Seivert indicates that: 'The announced trading volume is not equivalent to the current merger and acquisition activities. Announcements are lagging indicators, but many of the developments that will occur in the coming quarters are already in progress. In our own business, the demand for seller consultations, new project assignments, and buyer participation in marketing processes remains strong.'
Shaping the Key Trends of Activities in the Third Quarter of 2026
Buyers pay for niche areas, not just for assets.
Acquirers are increasingly targeting companies that serve specific customer groups or have the capability to provide scalable services. This includes The Vistria Group's investment in Curi Capital, which serves medical professionals, as well as Corient's acquisition of Music Row Wealth Management, which caters to rural music artists. Transactions involving tax and corporate consulting services are particularly concentrated.
Private equity-backed buyers still dominate, but their proportion has slightly decreased.
In transactions announced this quarter, there were a total of 92 acquisitions supported by private equity, accounting for 73.6% of the 125 transactions, which is lower than the historical high of 75.8% set in the second quarter of 2026; at the same time, the number of transactions involving private equity firms as direct investors or sponsors increased from 99 to 102. RIA announced transactions accounted for a record 81.6%, and there were 15 transactions announced by single buyers, which is higher than the low of 5 transactions in the second quarter.
Sponsors' capital events dominate the largest-scale transactions
The three largest transactions of this quarter were all minority equity capital events, rather than sales: Merchant Investment Management holds a 25.9% stake in Ironbark Financial Group, which has an asset size of $66.6 billion; Hamilton Lane established a $270 million continuation vehicle for Savant with an asset size of $57 billion; Carlyle invested $600 million in Prime Capital with an asset size of $50 billion. Strategic acquirers announced 26 out of 37 transactions this quarter with a size of $1 billion or more, and all but one were direct acquisitions. Leading among these were Wealth Enhancement Group acquiring RWA Wealth Partners with an asset size of $22.5 billion, as well as Corient acquiring Summit Trail Advisors with an asset size of $21 billion.
The number of large transactions by repeat acquirers has decreased, but there is no trend towards a sustained shift to smaller transactions.
This quarter, 10 buyers announced 3 or more transactions, totaling 47 transactions, including 12 transactions with a scale of $1 billion or more, which is lower than the 15 transactions in the second quarter of 2026; the median value of these buyers' transactions also dropped to approximately $573 million, down from the previous $810 million. Five of the 12 transactions came from Hightower, and four of those were transfers of related businesses into their Signature Wealth channel, indicating that the largest repeat acquirers are still shifting from "integrative acquisitions" to "integrative operations." Since the beginning of 2026, the average size of a single transaction has been $1.9 billion, which is still higher than the annual average of $1.7 billion from 2021 to 2025.
WealthTECH Transactions Set New Records, Platform Accelerates Integration
In the third quarter of 2026, WealthTECH recorded a record 51 transactions, representing a 27.5% increase from 40 transactions in the third quarter of 2025. The acquisition of Altruist by Vanguard made the custody business a focal point of this quarter. The largest transactions in terms of asset size included the capital restructuring of Ascensus (with a value of $1.3 trillion) and the acquisition of Russell Investments (worth $416 billion).
View RIA mergers and acquisitions more comprehensively
The report on the new CEO executive summary is based on ECHELON's 25 years of consulting experience in the field of wealth management, explaining how the market has evolved and what this means for the coming year. Accompanying it is the RIA merger and acquisition continuum, which serves as a new framework for understanding transaction activities, helping to interpret those that occur before they are officially announced and are mostly not in the public eye. The report also details what is included in the ECHELON core statistical metrics, as well as how adjacent fields from technology to retirement platforms are reshaping the industry.
2026 Outlook: Another record in sight
Looking to the future, ECHELON Partners expects the trading volume to reach around 510 transactions in 2026, which is higher than the 500 transactions predicted in July, surpassing the record of 466 transactions in 2025. The structural drivers for industry consolidation still exist. According to ECHELON, the limiting factor lies with the sellers: the company estimates that among about 17,000 registered advisors, only about 2.9% actually conduct transactions each year, while a healthy market could support a level close to 5%.
Seivert added, "Our goal is to go beyond merely counting the number of transactions and to instead explain and predict these transactions. According to our statistics, 2026 is set to become the most active year in the history of this industry."
This RIA merger and acquisition transaction report for the third quarter of 2026 provides a detailed analysis of the transaction activities and the strategic forces that will shape the next phase of industry consolidation.
The complete report can be downloaded at https :// www.echelon-partners.com / research-and-insights.
About ECHELON Partners
ECHELON Partners is an investment bank and consulting firm focused on the wealth management and investment management industries, founded by Dan Seivert in 2001. The company will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2026. ECHELON provides merger and acquisition consulting, financing, valuation, and strategic consulting services to RIA, brokerage traders, and other financial service companies. Since 2015, ECHELON has been releasing award-winning RIA merger and acquisition transaction reports, tracking quarterly transaction activities and integration trends, and is frequently cited by leading wealth management and financial media.
¹ The total number reflects the statistics of ECHELON core US wealth management transactions. WealthTECH and other "non-core" transactions are counted separately.
Excludes transactions over $20 billion that include AUM.
