What’s driving brokerage advisor satisfaction

There were only two exceptions among the 27 categories. The performance average for “advisor’s experience with back-office tools & services” fell to 7.8 out of 10 from 7.9. The result for “succession planning support for advisors” dropped to 8.6 from 8.8. Neither of those changes were significant, defined as a shift of half a point or more.

For 2025, and among all 27 areas, the back-office experience category had the largest advisor satisfaction gap (measured as the difference between a category’s performance average and how important advisors felt it was to their business). A gap of 1.4, between its 7.8 performance average and 9.2 importance average, had risen from a difference of 1.2 a year ago.

No firms had significantly lower back-office experience ratings for 2025, yet many of the advisors polled continued to say back-office support employees can become overwhelmed when turnover leads to understaffing, business volume is high or when a firm’s technology systems are changing — and this can hurt client interactions.

An advisor with Richardson Wealth Ltd. in Alberta said back-office processing delays hinder important processes like client onboarding. About their firm’s switch in 2023 to Fidelity Clearing Canada ULC’s (FCC) UniFide system, they said the firm has “taken and implemented feedback, but turnaround time [by back-office staff] is a big issue that needs work.” The firm was rated 7.4 for back-office experience in 2025, unchanged from 2024.

If back-office staff don’t understand advisors’ jobs and timelines, that’s also an issue, said an advisor with BMO Nesbitt Burns Ltd. in Ontario. “There are times [when] the back office doesn’t own the problem [like] the advisory team does, and that’s problematic.” While “most problems get worked out,” this advisor said, “back office and head office [must be] fully supportive and available to advisors.” Nesbitt Burns was rated 7.6 in this category, up significantly from 6.6 in 2024.

Improving workflows

Executives with both firms want to improve advisors’ workflows, a common priority across the brokerage space that’s often looked at through a technology lens. (See story, Finding shortcuts without cutting client service.)

Richardson Wealth president and CEO Dave Kelly, leader of the firm since October 2024, told IE during an interview that part of his onboarding has been learning all about advisors’ daily work and considering the capabilities they require. “We’re focused on the front-end [tools],” he said, citing advisors’ websites and client-facing dashboards as well as platforms like CapIntel — that the firm partnered with in April — to help with tasks like advisors’ client proposals.

No major changes have been made to the FCC software, he said, but support resources were added in January to help advisors resolve any issues. Those resources will roll out to all teams by the end of June, Kelly said, one way the firm will “remove friction points specifically around turnaround times.”

Advisor productivity is also a priority for Nesbitt Burns. Craig Meeds, named head of wealth advice, Canada, with BMO Private Wealth just over a year ago, told IE, “Anything we can do to enhance the experience of our clients and increase the efficiency of our advisors, we’re going to do.” The bank-owned brokerage is technology-oriented and exploring aspects like AI, but if advisors need human support that’s also crucial.

“They [advisors] want to know that somebody understands what it’s like to do their job,” Meeds acknowledged. “It’s absolutely important that the leadership team respects what the investment professionals do for a living,” he said, and the firm’s advisory councils help share insights with leadership.

Positive reversals

Despite these recurrent satisfaction gaps in the Report Card data, most firms’ IE ratings were stable year over year (an IE rating is an average of all of a company’s category ratings by advisors, excluding Net Promoter Score® or NPS; see Brokerage Report Card 2025 table for more).

The IE ratings of nine firms were either unchanged from 2024 or improved by only a small margin, meaning advisors on average felt these firms’ efforts to support them and their clients were consistent. Four firms’ ratings saw a slight, but not significant drop.

Nesbitt Burns bucked that trend, with its IE rating rising to 8.5 from 7.8. Its advisors gave the firm improved ratings in 17 out of 27 categories compared with 2024. The firm’s largest increase was for its “receptiveness to advisor feedback,” rated 8.1 from 6.6. The “leadership team,” led by Meeds since February 2024, was also rated notably higher (8.0 from 6.6).

Advisors with the firm appreciated their business independence, colleagues and depth of resources. A Nesbitt Burns advisor in the Prairies not only felt “completely unrestrained” when it came to running their business but also liked the firm’s trust, banking and tax planning experts, saying: “I feel like I can offer my clients anything they need.”

About leadership, one advisor with the firm in Atlantic Canada suggested Nesbitt Burns’ executive team was “very aligned” with advisors, adding they “understand the business and [are] putting the proper tools and support in place.”

Other advisors reserved judgement, however, in the face of restructuring and other changes in the past year. A Nesbitt Burns advisor in Ontario said, “They need to stop changing … so we can get more consistency. How long is this guy [Meeds] going to last?”

Meeds responded, telling IE, “We very much do owe them [advisors] stability.” The bank merged its private banking and Nesbitt Burns operations in 2019, a move that continues to shape the business, and has since been through several leadership changes. “We need to be consistent in our message, our strategy and … our ability to deliver,” he said, noting that collaborating with regional presidents and market leaders is helping to gain advisors’ trust.

For 2025, the importance averages for each of the leadership and advisor feedback categories remained high at 9.2, compared with 9.3 and 9.0 respectively a year ago. Both remain on the list of the 10 categories with the highest importance averages for advisors. (See the 10 categories rated most important table, end of article; also, read Culture tops pay, technology as most important to advisors.)

Attentive leadership

There were two other firms with significantly improved ratings in many categories. Odlum Brown Ltd. improved in 12 categories, while CG Wealth Management did better in 10. For both companies, the advisor feedback category was a highlight: Odlum Brown’s rating there rose to 8.1 from 6.9, while CG Wealth’s jumped to 9.0 from 8.1 — and both of their leadership category results increased notably.

CG Wealth’s leaders haven’t changed recently, as Stuart Raftus was named CEO of Canaccord Genuity Corp. two years ago. But its results show advisors were happier with company culture. A handful of that firm’s respondents suggested work on the back-office experience and technology suite, but they generally felt understood.

For example, one CG Wealth advisor in Ontario said, “Management is very attentive and always available for a meeting, and very supportive of any new product or investment ideas.”

At Odlum Brown, Trevor Short became president and director in June 2024, replacing Debra Doucette who led the firm for almost two decades. Short joined the firm decades ago, and he’s been connecting with advisors.

“Our new CEO has a pulse on what needs to be done,” said one of the firm’s advisors, who felt Short was “open to feedback.”

Some Odlum Brown advisors sought more transparency and digital evolution, but according to another of that firm’s satisfied respondents, “The firm is really working on positive change. We have an outline” on strategy.

As Short explained, “I’m well attuned to the evolving needs and desires of clients, and [understand] the support that’s needed.” Despite some “holes in our system,” he said, progress is being made through work on the firm’s planning tools, plus data management and recordkeeping systems.

For any firm to inspire loyalty and uphold strong ratings, it’s key to help advisors grow and feel seen. As an RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (RBC DS) advisor in Ontario described, “[The] industry is changing a lot, and [RBC DS] is a stable place to make your living, with a good culture.” The firm’s NPS was 92.0, considered exceptional. That was higher than the Report Card’s strong overall NPS of 74.8, a score that’s calculated based on asking advisors whether they’d recommend their workplace.

This article appears in the June issue of Investment Executive. Subscribe to the print edition, read the digital edition or read the articles online.