Key Takeaways
- According to SEC Form ADV data, Global Relay is the communications archiving firm registered advisers name most as keeping their books and records, by 1,541 advisers or 67% of those that name one.
- According to the same SEC data, Smarsh is second, named by 660 advisers; together the two reach 92% of advisers that name an archiving firm.
- 2,297 of 16,850 SEC-registered advisers (14%) name an archiving firm on Form ADV; most advisers name no outside record keeper at all, so these are shares of those that do.
- From each adviser's latest Form ADV filing through December 31, 2024, the latest period the SEC has published in full.
Global Relay is the communications archiving firm SEC-registered advisers name most as keeping their books and records, by 1,541 advisers or 67% of those that name one. Smarsh is second with 660, and Mimecast third with 81.
Form ADV asks every SEC-registered adviser where its books and records are kept, and by whom. 2,297 of 16,850 registered advisers (14%) name a communications archiving firm there, in filings through December 31, 2024, the latest period the SEC has published in full. The shares below are of those 2,297.
The archiving firms RIAs name
Counted by the advisers that name each firm, each adviser once per firm. The last two columns follow those advisers to the SEC's monthly file of September 1, 2026: how many are still registered, and the median assets they manage now. The median, because a single very large adviser can carry a firm's total.
| Rank | Archiving firm | Advisers naming it | Share of advisers that name an archiving firm | Of those, still SEC-registered | Median assets those advisers manage now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Global Relay | 1,541 | 67.1% | 1,375 | $1.9 billion |
| 2 | Smarsh | 660 | 28.7% | 568 | $2.3 billion |
| 3 | Mimecast | 81 | 3.5% | 75 | $5.6 billion |
| 4 | MirrorWeb | 79 | 3.4% | 71 | $1.1 billion |
| 5 | Proofpoint | 58 | 2.5% | 54 | $6.7 billion |
| 6 | PageFreezer | 30 | 1.3% | 27 | $10.1 billion |
| 7 | Erado | 29 | 1.3% | 24 | $302 million |
| 8 | Bloomberg Vault | 18 | 0.8% | 17 | $11.7 billion |
| 9 | Theta Lake | 15 | 0.7% | 13 | $4.1 billion |
| 10 | Intradyn | 4 | 0.2% | 3 | $2.3 billion |
| 11 | Hearsay Systems | 2 | 0.1% | 2 | $15.6 billion |
| 12 | Jatheon | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | $17.3 billion |
Download this table (CSV), free, with every filed name grouped under each firm.
This table counts firms. Which advisers name which firm, which of them added or dropped one in the last year, and each adviser's assets, clients and registration, are in the adviser-level workbook: one row per SEC-registered adviser, identified by its SEC number, updated monthly for a year.
Who names an archiving firm, by size
Advisers naming any of these 12 firms, still registered, by the assets they manage now.
| Assets the adviser manages now | Advisers naming an archiving firm |
|---|---|
| Under $100 million | 93 |
| $100 million to $1 billion | 669 |
| $1 billion to $10 billion | 832 |
| $10 billion and over | 437 |
203 advisers name more than one archiving firm, so the firms' counts add up to more than 2,297.
How the counts changed in a year
The SEC's release holds every filing, not just the latest, so the same count can be taken a year earlier: each adviser's latest filing up to December 31, 2023, against its latest up to December 31, 2024. 15,416 advisers appear in both, and 15,275 of them filed again in between.
| Archiving firm | Advisers naming it, filings to December 31, 2023 | Filings to December 31, 2024 | Added by advisers in both | Dropped by advisers in both | Advisers new to the filings | Advisers gone from the filings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global Relay | 1,366 | 1,541 | 192 | 18 | 66 | 65 |
| Smarsh | 601 | 660 | 90 | 28 | 23 | 26 |
| Mimecast | 84 | 81 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| MirrorWeb | 39 | 79 | 34 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| Proofpoint | 57 | 58 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| PageFreezer | 36 | 30 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Erado | 22 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Bloomberg Vault | 15 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Theta Lake | 10 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Intradyn | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hearsay Systems | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jatheon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Global Relay gained the most, from 1,366 advisers to 1,541: 192 advisers in both filings added it, and 18 dropped it.
- MirrorWeb grew fastest among firms named by at least 25 advisers, from 39 to 79.
- PageFreezer fell the most among those firms, from 36 advisers to 30.
- A drop is not always a departure. 15 of the 66 drops are by advisers whose newer filing names no outside record keeper at all, which reads more like a change in what they report than a change of firm.
Each firm's columns reconcile: its count a year earlier, plus the advisers that added it or arrived naming it, minus those that dropped it or left, is its count now.
What the filings can and cannot say
- Naming a firm is strong evidence of use. A firm named in Schedule D, Section 1.L keeps some of the adviser's records.
- Not naming one is evidence of nothing. Only 6,123 of 16,850 advisers (36%) name any outside record keeper at all. An adviser can archive with a firm it does not list, or list it under a parent or a broker-dealer.
- The filings are dated. The SEC publishes this part of Form ADV in periods; these run through December 31, 2024, and an adviser may have changed firms since.
- A change is a change in the filing. An adviser that stops naming a firm may have left it, or stopped listing it; the filing cannot tell the two apart.
What this means for compliance teams
Archiving is one part of an adviser's compliance stack. These guides compare the tools around it:
- Compliance monitoring and pre-trade clearance: the surveillance that reads what the archive keeps.
- Portfolio rebalancing tools for RIAs: trading records with their own retention rules.
Mapping where records obligations sit in the business? The Governance, Risk and Compliance Capability Model places recordkeeping among the other compliance capabilities a firm runs.
More from Finantrix Atlas
- Which custodians do RIAs use?
- Fastest-growing RIAs
- Largest registered investment advisers, ranked by assets
How this was counted
This page takes each SEC-registered adviser's latest filing up to December 31, 2024, leaves out advisers whose latest filing is more than fifteen months older, and reads every record keeper listed in Schedule D, Section 1.L. Rows at a private residence, a branch or an affiliate are left out before any name is read. Names are as advisers typed them, grouped by company under published rules. Each adviser is counted once per firm.
Limits
- As of the SEC's latest full release. These filings run through December 31, 2024.
- Archiving firms we group only. Smaller firms filed under their own spellings are not in these counts; every grouped spelling is in the free table.
- A record keeper, not every vendor. Schedule D, Section 1.L lists where records are kept. It is not a list of every system an adviser runs.
- Grouping is a judgment. The filed names under each firm are in the free table, so any grouping can be checked or redone.
Cite this
Free to quote, cite and republish, including the chart, with credit to Finantrix Atlas and a link to this page.
67% of SEC-registered advisers that name a communications archiving firm on Form ADV name Global Relay, according to a Finantrix Atlas analysis of filings through December 31, 2024.
Suggested citation: Finantrix Atlas, "Which Communications Archiving Firms Do RIAs Use?", from SEC Form ADV filings through December 31, 2024. https://www.finantrix.com/articles/ria-communications-archiving
Embed the chart:
<a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/ria-communications-archiving"><img src="https://www.finantrix.com/atlas/ria-communications-archiving.png" alt="RIA communications archiving firms by number of advisers, from Finantrix Atlas"></a>
<p>Chart: <a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/ria-communications-archiving">Finantrix Atlas</a>, from SEC Form ADV data.</p>
Frequently asked questions
Q: Which archiving firm do the most RIAs use? A: Global Relay, named by 1,541 SEC-registered advisers on Form ADV as keeping their books and records, 67% of those that name an archiving firm.
Q: How many RIAs name an archiving firm on Form ADV? A: 2,297 of 16,850 SEC-registered advisers (14%), in filings through December 31, 2024. Most advisers name no outside record keeper at all, which says nothing about whether they archive.
Download the data
Two CSV files, free: the 12 rows on this page, and the full dataset of all 12 rows, as of December 31, 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which archiving firm do the most RIAs use?
Global Relay, named by 1,541 SEC-registered advisers on Form ADV as keeping their books and records, 67% of those that name an archiving firm.
How many RIAs name an archiving firm on Form ADV?
2,297 of 16,850 SEC-registered advisers (14%), in filings through December 31, 2024. Most advisers name no outside record keeper at all, which says nothing about whether they archive.