Implications of Market Structure on the Financial Advisory Industry Öffentlichkeit

Kumar, Ishitha (Summer 2024)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/79407z73s?locale=de
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Abstract

This dissertation investigates how the evolution of market structure, in terms of technology adoption and market competition, is impacting the financial advisory industry. First, I study the effect of advent of robo-advisors (financial technology) on the labor market outcomes for financial advisors. I use hand-collected data on robo-advisors, and an instrumental variable approach for this purpose. I find that robo-advisors and financial advisors are complements. This complementarity can be explained by the expansion in market for financial services through (1) an increase in financial advisors at firms that directly compete with robo-advisors in terms of services provided (relative to the rest of the firms) and (2) an increase in investor-level demand for financial advisors. I also find that the observed increase in the number of financial advisors is due to a reduction in separations and an increase in hirings. This is associated with an increase in the average experience of a financial advisor with no effect on the misconduct behavior of a financial advisor at the firm. 

Next, I study the effect of market competition among financial advisors on the misconduct of financial advisors. For this purpose, I construct a competition measure using an exogenous shock that affects both supply of financial advisors and demand for financial advisors. Using this plausibly exogenous competition measure, I find that a one-unit standard deviation increase in competition measure increases the probability of misconduct complaint by 0.3%. Further, an increase in competition increases the total number of complaints at the financial advisor level. I also find a reduction in the probability of termination after a misconduct complaint with an increase in competition. I examine the severity of misconduct complaints with an increase in competition and find that the observed results are driven by an increase in misconduct complaints with no significant material allegations.

Table of Contents

Impact of Robo-advisors on the Labor Market for Financial Advisors 1

Introduction 2

Literature 8

Data and Methodology 12

Data 12

Data on Robo-advisors 12

Data on Financial Advisory Firms 13

Data on Individual Financial Advisors 14

Combining Data on Financial Advisory Firms and Individual Advisor 14

             Survey Data on Demand for Financial Advisors 15

           Macro Data 16

Methodology 16

State Regulations 16

PATH Act 2016 17

Instrumental Variable 18

Alternate IV 19

Empirical Specification 20

Empirical Specification with Alternate IV 22

Results and Discussion 22

Main Result 22

Validity of the IV 24

External Validity for the Results 25

Robustness with Various Controls 25

Effect on Other Employment Types 27

Heterogeneous Response 27

Mechanism 28

Separation and Hiring 32

Composition of Financial Advisors 33

Impact on Misconduct Behavior 33

Conclusion 34

Appendix 36

             

Competition and Misconduct: Evidence from Financial Advisory Industry 41

Introduction 42

Literature 45

Data and Methodology 46

Data 46

Demographic Data 46

SHELDUS - Natural Disasters Data 47

Competition Measure 47

Economic Motivation 47

Measuring Competition 48

Bootstrap Measure for Competition 50

Empirical Specification 51

Results and Discussion 52

Main Result 52

Robustness of the Result 53

Effect on Aggregate Complaints 53

Termination After a Misconduct Complaint 54

Severity of Misconduct Complaint 54

Conclusion 55

Appendices 57

Tables 57

Figures 75

References 80

List of Tables

 

 

Impact of Robo-advisors on the Labor Market for Financial Advisors

Table 1. Break-down of Various Types of Firms that Provide Robo-advisory Services 57

Table 2. Summary statistics57

Table 3. Impact of Robo-advisors on the Number of Financial Advisors at State and Firm-State Levels 58

Table 4. Impact of Robo-advisors on the Number of Financial Advisors at State and Firm-State levels: Estimated Using Bartik-like Instrument over the Period 2006-201959

Table 5. Robustness of the Effect of Robo-advisors on the Number of Financial Advisors at a Firm with Additional Controls 60

Table 6. 2SLS Estimates Impact of Robo-advisors on the Number of Financial Advisors and Brokers at a Firm 61

Table 7. Heterogeneity in Response to the Number of Robo-advisory Firms 62

Table 8. Response by Firms that Provide Services Similar to Robo-advisory Services63

Table 9. Response by Firms that Cater to Individual and High-net-worth Clienetele64

Table 10. Impact of Robo-advisors on the Demand for Financial Advisory Services65

Table 11. Effect of Robo-advisors on the Number of Financial Advisors Separated and Hired at the Firm-State 65

Table 12. Effect of Robo-advisors on the Average Experience of Financial Advisors and the Misconduct Behavior of the Financial Advisors at the Firm-State66

Table A1. Correlation between Level of Internet Firms and Characteristics during 200367

Table A2. Coefficient Estimates from 2SLS Regressions with and without 2003 Level Variables Interacted with Time as Controls 67

Table A3. Coefficient Estimates from 2SLS regression using the IVs Constructed using Number of Internet Advisor Firms from various Base Years 67

Competition and Misconduct: Evidence from Financial Advisory Industry

Table 13. Effect of Competition on the Misconduct Behavior of a Financial Advisor 68

Table 14. Effect of Competition on the Misconduct Behavior of a Financial Advisor - Removing Extreme Values for Competition Measure 69

Table 15. Effect of Competition on the Misconduct Behavior of a Financial Advisor using Bootstrap Competition Measure 70

Table 16. Effect of Competition on the Total Number of Misconduct Complaints at a Financial Advisor Level 71

Table 17. Effect of Competition on the Termination of Employment After a Misconduct Behavior Complaint 72

Table 18. Effect of Competition on the Alleged Damages and Settlement Amount for a Misconduct Complaint at a Financial Advisor level 73

Table 19. Effect of Competition on the Probability that a Misconduct Complaint at a Financial Advisor level is Settled or Denied 74

List of Figures

 

 

Impact of Robo-advisors on the Labor Market for Financial Advisors

Figure 1.A. Distribution of Firms Offering Robo-advisory Services across US States during 200675

Figure 1.B. Distribution of Firms Offering Robo-advisory Services across US States during 201975

Figure 2.A. Distribution of Financial Advisory Firms across US States during 200676

Figure 2.B. Distribution of Financial Advisory Firms across US States during 201976

Figure 3. Adoption of NASAA Model Rule 202(d)-1 by Various States 77

Figure 4. Average Number of Robo-advisors in States with Different Levels of Adoption of NASAA Recommendations on Firms’ Financial Requirements77

Figure 5. Average Number of Financial Advisory Firms in States with Different Levels of Adoption of NASAA Recommendations on Firms’ Financial Requirements 78

Figure 6. Coefficient Estimates on the Instrumental Variable Plotted over Years - Obtained by Estimating Equation 3.79

Competition and Misconduct: Evidence from Financial Advisory Industry

Figure 7. Simple Supply-Demand Graphs; D and D’ Represent Demand Curves, and S and S’ Represent Supply Curves 79

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