CFA Institute Survey: BDs, Financial Advisors Largely Avoid Crypto Assets
A recently released CFA Institute survey finds that more than 90% of the survey’s respondents reported that their firms do not allow reps to solicit sales of crypto assets. Moreover, 67% of financial advisors said they would not sell them to clients even if they could. Only 14% of the respondents said they would, while 19% said they were unsure.
But the survey also reveals a generational divide, with early-career advisors expressing the most openness to crypto assets and late-career advisors expressing the least interest.
“The survey results show that, despite all the attention that crypto has gained, it still has a long way to go before entering the mainstream of retailing investing,” noted Stephen Deane, senior director for Capital Markets Policy at CFA Institute.
That being said, “the findings also show greater receptivity among broker reps who have entered the field in the past five years and probably have younger clients,” Deane added.
According to the study, advisors with five years of experience or less “were most likely to be open to recommending crypto assets if they could, with 38% saying they would. Within that same group, 69% said they are comfortable discussing the topic with clients.”
Advisors with more than 20 years of experience, however, “were far less open, with only 12% saying they’d sell crypto assets were they available. This group was also less comfortable talking about crypto assets (40%) than their less experienced peers.”
Furthermore, 31% of advisors with less than five years of experience believe they’re extremely or very knowledgeable about crypto, while an additional 38% believe they’re moderately knowledgeable and 31% slightly knowledgeable, the CFA Institute said.
The survey found only a limited increase in investor interest in crypto over the past 12 months, with 44% of advisors reporting no increase. The survey was conducted in November 2022 among members of the Financial Services Institute who are US broker-dealer representatives and received responses from 340 financial advisors.