Quarterly RIA Deals Hit Record in Q3: DeVoe

However, the 44 transactions that went on to happen in Q3 represented "an all-time high and above anything that we've seen before," he said.

Fidelity recently provided a similarly upbeat diagnosis for Q3 deals, but said there were 37 transactions, representing $48 billion, the highest total transactions and assets for any quarter since Fidelity began tracking in 2016. (Each firm that tracks M&A deals uses a different formula in terms of the companies they include.)

DeVoe & Co. plans to soon provide more details on Q3 M&A trends, it noted Thursday.

"Despite a tough environment, it looks like M&A has come back," Ben Harrison, managing director and head of Advisor Solutions at BNY Mellon | Pershing, said Wednesday.

"We saw the same kind of 'batten down the hatches'" strategy among Pershing clients from March-May to deal with the challenging environment brought on by the pandemic, he said.

"Firms used this opportunity to take stock of what they were doing, revisit their strategic plan and really double down in areas where they believed that they had an advantage to do so and execute," he noted.

"Our business has been a reflection of that," he said. "We've seen a very healthy pipeline. We've seen growth from firms that were set up to intentionally grow and those firms that are executing are absolutely back to normal levels and the ones that are executing extraordinarily well are outperforming."