Private equity firms have fuelled a surge in wealth management deals over the past five years, as major players looked for scale to compete with rivals. But this might finally be slowing.

Private equity firms are taking longer to complete deals they enter into with wealth managers, data provided exclusively to Financial News shows. Buyout firms have fuelled explosive growth in the sector, but they have become increasingly wary of taking on too much debt, falling foul of regulators or overpaying for targets, bankers and advisers said.