The investment consulting market is growing at an accelerated pace. If this pace accelerates with the entry of banks into wealth services platforms, the expectation is that the number of consultants could surpass the number of advisors by 2030.
This is the conclusion of a survey by the consulting firm AAWZ, which NeoFeed had first-hand access to. The number of new consulting firms increased by 66%, compared to 10% growth in advisory firms between 2023 and 2025, shows the study, which used data from the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), which officially registers consultants, and the National Association of Securities Brokers (Ancord), which officially registers investment advisors.
The contrast becomes even more evident when looking at the dynamics of business openings and closings. According to the report, the monthly registration of new consulting firms doubled from 2023 to 2025, with the average reaching 14 per month in 2025, while the cancellation rate remained stable at 30% over time.
On the advisory side, 2025 appears as the point of greatest contraction: the percentage of closed firms in relation to those founded reached 89%, bringing the net balance to the lowest historical level.
The data also indicates that consulting firms are not only growing faster than advisory firms, but that advisory firms are creating their own consulting firms. AAWZ identified that approximately 25% of the growth in consulting firms has been driven by groups originating from the advisory ecosystem. By 2025, of the 162 consulting firms (legal entities) founded, 37 would have been opened by former advisors—an average of three per month.
Beyond the growth in the number of registered companies (CNPJs), the number of professional consultants has indeed exploded, exceeding official records. To verify this, AAWZ directly investigated consulting firms to capture a universe that does not fully appear in the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) database.
This is because, as a rule, consultants can operate without being registered with the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission), as long as they possess certain certifications and are supported by the operating model adopted by the firms. In practice, this creates an undercount when the market only looks at official data.
“We analyzed websites, social media, and open data from all consulting firms in Brazil to understand their performance and the number of professionals they have, and the result was surprising. We estimate that the actual number of active consultants is about 68% higher than the total number of professionals registered with the CVM,” says Filipe Medeiros, CEO and founder of AAWZ, to NeoFeed .
The survey shows that the number of consultants registered with the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) will increase by just over 200% between 2021 and 2025, from 701 to 2,135. During the same period, the number of certified consultants analyzed by the consultancy grew from 1,179 to 3,592. For AAWZ, this absolute difference supports the argument that focusing solely on the CVM underestimates the size of the market.
The consultancy also states that, on average, 60% of new consultants operate without being registered with the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission). The number of newly certified consultants working in the sector is 93 per month, of which approximately 20 are former investment advisors.
In the context of this analysis, this difference changes the narrative about the market transition: when observing the migration of professionals from the advisory ecosystem to consulting, the volume would have more than doubled by 2025 compared to what appears only from formal records.
In a statement signed by Guilherme Sant'Anna, director of channels, XP argues that the data from Ancord's advisory services also does not reflect reality.
"Following regulatory changes that allowed capitalist partners to enter the offices, many professionals who do not work directly in customer service have declared themselves inactive or have had their contracts terminated, which reduces the total number reported, but not the volume of active sales advisors. Furthermore, there is a trend towards professionalization in the sector, with offices structuring digital operations and hiring professionals under CLT (Brazilian labor law) contracts, a dynamic that is also not reflected in these data excerpts," writes the director of channels at XP.
He adds: "XP adopts an agnostic model, in which the client has the freedom to choose both the service format and the remuneration model that best suits their profile. The coexistence of advisory, consulting and other forms of service reflects the maturity of the market and expands the options and quality of guidance offered to the investor."
When contacted, BTG declined to comment.
What is behind migration?
The migration of advisors to the consulting model is being driven by the new market and economic landscape. Clients have been increasingly seeking and adopting the fixed-fee model since 2024, according to the AAWZ report.
Furthermore, the largest platforms on the market, XP and BTG, have announced a new set of rules for advisors who wish to operate on a direct client fee basis (fixed fee), with a charge for using the platform. In contrast, the consulting model offers greater freedom to set fees with the client, and the relationship with the platform as a provider is different.
“We are seeing a shift in the investment market. Clients know that there is no such thing as free advice, and the fixed fee model is becoming increasingly unacceptable, and advisors are also wanting to operate under this model. But platforms have tightened their fees for advisory services, making consulting a more fluid option for advisors who want to become primarily fee-based,” says Medeiros.
Looking ahead, AAWZ projects that the imbalance between the two worlds is likely to decrease. Maintaining the growth patterns of both markets, the advisor/consultant ratio would fall from 6 to 1 in 2024 to 2 to 1 in 2030. However, the outlook is that the growth gap will accelerate with the entry of large banks into this wealth service market, driving the growth of consultancies and making consultants the majority by that date.
As NeoFeed first reported last November, major banks are on track to enter the B2B market through the consulting model. Safra already has its platform and is gradually integrating it into the market, and Itaú is reportedly about to launch, as are other banks with similar projects.
