Wholesale BDM hiring spikes as fundies target wealth managers

Wholesale distribution is experiencing the most active hiring efforts as the decline in financial advisers means fund managers are focusing on high-net-worth investors and wealth managers. 

The annual Funds Distribution Salary Guide and Trends from Kaizen Recruitment found wholesale distribution accounted for 72 per cent of market activity compared to around 40 per cent for both institutional and retail distribution.

Hiring firms are seeking distribution talent in the wholesale space who can demonstrate deep networks with platforms and research houses, a strong track record of capital raising and private markets experience. On the other hand, candidates are seeking firms with quality talent, strong leadership and positive team culture.

“Wholesale is growing, thanks in part to the eligibility criteria for wholesale investors, opening the door to more investors. Managed accounts and private credit are gaining momentum, with demand for tailored, outcome-driven solutions on the rise. Wholesale business development managers are hot property, especially those with strong networks and a consultative approach.

“This trend reflects a strategic emphasis on servicing wealth management groups and family offices, which are key drivers of growth in the sector. Consequently, wholesale teams are scaling up to meet demand, while institutional teams tend to remain lean and highly specialised – often with just a few individuals covering the entire market.”

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Compared to wholesale, retail distribution has cooled, thanks to the decline of financial advisers, rise of managed accounts and asset consultants, it said. With a smaller market to target, fund managers are instead looking to D2C strategies, ETFs which can reach consumers directly or HNW investors only.

Unsurprisingly, private credit funds are driving the salary growth, particularly for experienced staff, but Kaizen said candidates tend to remain within a chosen asset class where they have gained experience and are knowledgeable even for the promise of higher pay from another asset class.

“One might have expected a stronger push towards roles offering access to higher-performing or more resilient products. However, the data suggests that many professionals prefer to remain within the asset class they’ve built expertise in, even if they are quietly seeking stronger product offerings within that category. This reflects a nuanced balance between specialisation and the desire for better tools to succeed in a tough fundraising environment.”

Kaizen also noted private credit funds can be difficult to market, especially for newer funds which are yet to receive a much-needed rating from a research house. 

Salary guide

Looking at salaries, a head of distribution for retail and wholesale can earn $300,000 to $340,000, moving down to $220,000 to $270,000 for a senior BDM with 10–15 years of experience. A BDM with 6–10 years’ experience can earn $170,000 to $200,000, and a junior BDM with around 4–6 years’ experience can earn $120,000 to $160,000. 

These figures include superannuation but exclude any allowance or potential bonuses.

Compared to 2024’s figures, Kaizen said the salaries have remained “relatively stable” over the years.

However, bonuses, which last year could be as much as 80–100 per cent of their salary for those working in high-performing funds, have come down. Instead, this year saw BDMs in the retail and wholesale space typically receive a bonus of 25–40 per cent and “rare, exceptional performers” receive 60–70 per cent. 

The report also noted there is a distinct gap between the actual and potential bonus amounts with retail and wholesale BDMs only achieving 35–40 per cent of their total bonus potential.

Commenting on this occurrence to Money Management, Kaizen senior recruitment manager Riley Thompson said this due to a combination of factors where firms may offer high bonus potential to attract or secure top talent away from rivals but the market conditions subsequently made these performance targets difficult to achieve.

"Unless you're working across multi-strategy platforms with highly rated funds, it’s been a challenging environment for capital raising, which naturally impacts bonus outcomes.

"Some firms offer bonuses in the range of 30–50 per cent of base salary, and these tend to remain relatively stable regardless of market conditions. Others are offering upwards of 100 per cent or more to secure top talent, but in those cases, the bonus structures are often more volatile and closely tied to performance."

Others received alternative types of benefits such as additional leave (44 per cent of respondents), education allowance (38 per cent), and health and wellness allowance (37 per cent), although all these figures have reduced from last year.

Speaking to Money Management in May, recruiters from Keegan Adams and Michael Page said it had observed institutional asset managers who were moving into wholesale for the first time and hiring senior teams. However, experienced staff were often reluctant to jump ship to a untested proposition.

Jack Brown, director at Keegan Adams, said: “Funds who haven’t entered into the wealth channel are hiring heads of wealth or heads of wholesale, and they’re trying to strengthen up their wholesale distribution teams as they find that that is where they can get the most fees in the door and build out that capability.

"They’re saying, ‘Well, if we’ve lost an institutional mandate and we can’t regain that, we can see that there is less opportunity for us in the institutional market. We then need to start a wealth business, or focus on the wealth channel.’”