After a slightly down year in 2023 for deal-making in the registered investment advisor market, the first two months of this year saw a 20 percent increase in transactions when compared to the same time a year earlier, according to DeVoe & Co., a consulting and investment banking firm for RIAs.

Year to date, 49 transactions have been announced, versus 41 transactions during the same period last year, according to DeVoe. The increase in activity follows the full-year decline in 2023, which was the first downtick in annual M&A volume in more than a decade.

In 2023, RIAs hit their first speed bump after almost a decade of ever-increasing mergers and acquisitions. There were 251 RIA mergers and acquisitions in 2023, compared to 264 in 2022, a 5 percent decline, marking the first time in a decade that the number of M&As dropped on an annual basis, according to DeVoe.

High-interest rates make borrowing more expensive, and global economic fears also contributed to the slowdown. But M&A activity likely will continue to be spurred by the appetite for RIA acquisitions from private equity firmsand family offices, along with financial advisors’ search for a succession plan.