RIA consolidation kept up its pace in the third quarter of 2026. FINTRX tracked 60 announced RIA transactions between July and September, representing $100.9B in disclosed acquired AUM. With 225 deals announced through September, 2026 activity has already surpassed all of 2025, which closed with 193.
Q3 at a Glance
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60 announced deals
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$100.9B in disclosed acquired AUM
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~$450M median deal size
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1,038 employees across acquired firms
View the full Q3 2026 RIA M&A Activity Report here.
A Few Large Deals Drove the Quarter's AUM
The five largest transactions accounted for roughly $65.7B, or about 65% of total Q3 acquired AUM. Two deals made up more than half of the quarter on their own: Goldman Sachs Asset Management's acquisition of Neos Investments ($30B) and Corient's acquisition of Summit Trail Advisors ($21B). Excluding those two, the average deal size drops to roughly $840M.
By month, July led on deal count with 22 transactions, August produced the highest acquired AUM at $60.2B, and September posted the quarter's highest median deal size at $564M.
Buyers Are Targeting Smaller Firms
Median deal size has fallen from ~$1.4B in Q1 2025 to ~$450M in Q3 2026. Early 2025 saw fewer transactions weighted toward large platform firms. Since then, a broader base of acquirers has moved into smaller targets, and quarterly volume peaked at 84 deals in Q1 2026.
Wealth Enhancement Group Led Acquirers Again
Wealth Enhancement completed six deals in Q3, more than any other buyer. It also remains the most active acquirer in the dataset since Q1 2025, with 21 transactions.
Read the Full Report
The full report includes the quarter's largest deals, the most active acquirers and their targets, quarterly trends from Q1 2025 to Q3 2026, and the top acquirers over that period.
View the full Q3 2026 RIA M&A Activity Report here.
*Data compiled by FINTRX from publicly available sources and proprietary research. Provided for informational purposes only; not investment advice. Accuracy not guaranteed.*