In the financial services industry, the definiton of retail clients usually includes individuals, families and small businesses. Larger clients are called institutions.
Note that clients defined as retail can include very wealthy individuals and rather successful small businesses. The financial assets of retail clients thus can extend into the tens of millions.
In most financial services firms, financial advisors only have retail clients. Institutional clients usually are served through a separate institutional sales force. Similarly, certain lines of business and job functions are typically organized in a retail division, based on their orientation towards retail clients. These include, in addition to financial advisors, certain other job categories such as financial planners.
