Report Finds Restless Wire House Reps

As many as 11,000 wire house advisers may be on the move, according to a report by Aite Group in Boston.

Job satisfaction is a problem. While 15% of wire house advisers are very satisfied with their firm and have no intention of leaving, most are not so fired up about their employers. In fact, 20% say they're ready to break from their firm within the next two years.

These are not all lower producers, either. More than two-thirds of locked-in advisers say there's a chance they'll leave. "Most are looking for a better payout or to go independent, so they have more say over how they run their businesses," says Alois Pirker, research director at Aite. "Wire houses' tarnished brand" was the third biggest concern. The report was released last week.

For wire house reps willing to live without the cache of a Wall Street name, non-wire-house broker-dealers are now hiring aggressively.

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