Thirteen percent of affluent Americans closed at least one investment account in the last year, more than double the pace in the previous five years, a report says.
Investors say that they are closing investment accounts because of industry consolidation, rollovers, fees or a need to access funds.
According to Cogent Research, many distributors have been affected.
Among those who closed accounts, 15% reported closing a Fidelity Investments account, 11% closed a Wells Fargo/Wachovia Securities account and 10% closed either a Merrill Lynch or E-Trade account.
The Cogent Research 2011 Investor Brandscape report, released Thursday, was based on a national survey of 4,000 investors with at least $100,000 of investable assets.
Eighteen percent of the investors who closed an account last year did so because of a desire to consolidate or simplify accounts.
Fourteen percent said their actions were the result of moving or rolling over retirement assets to another provider.
Twelve percent cited either fees or the fact that they needed the assets for another purpose. The number that cited rollover as their reason for closing an account doubled last year compared with the previous five years, and the number citing a need to access account funds tripled.
"These numbers are a result of a confluence of events," said Meredith Lloyd Rice, a senior research director at Cogent and the author of the report. "With [baby] boomers retirement now hitting full stride, economic conditions forcing some investors to liquidate accounts, and an all-out price war among several key distributors, investors certainly have plenty of good reasons to re-evaluate their current account options."
