Fidelity Investments has launched two new technology offerings developed specifically for smaller and mid-sized registered investment advisors (RIAs) looking to establish and grow their business.
The all-in-one technology stack and the advisory bundle featuring FMAX Essentials, a new, streamlined managed account platform, each aim to reduce two common technology barriers for smaller firms: resources and cost.
“Technology has incredible power as a growth driver and firms that harness it best have dedicated the time to research, evaluate, and implement it at scale,” said Noni Robinson, head of Emerging RIAs at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Management Services, a division of Fidelity Investments that provides platform solutions and clearing and custody services to wealth management firms.
Smaller firms and advisors launching their own business, however, often have fewer resources, which can put them at a disadvantage, she noted.
“Our offering takes the guesswork out of selecting a technology stack with solutions that support front-, middle-, and back-office employees at these firms,” Robinson said.
Fidelity’s latest Advisor Technology Stack study found that firms with less than $250M are 1.8x less likely to embrace technology best practices than firms with $1T+ AUM.
This lack of technology adoption could affect the rate of growth that small and medium sized firms experience as the study also found that wealth management firms deploying technology best practices are growing significantly faster than peers.
Fidelity collaborated with eMoney Advisor, an expert in financial planning solutions, and Advyzon, an expert in advisor technology, to secure access to special pricing and support models for its all-in-one technology offering. This solution aims to reduce the time leaders spend on evaluating a technology stack.
It includes a variety of tools that are deeply integrated to help streamline advisors’ critical workflows such as: WealthscapeSM, Fidelity’s brokerage platform; eMoney’s financial planning capabilities; and Advyzon’s suite of operational and portfolio management software, including customer relationship management (CRM), performance reporting, and investment management tools offered by Advyzon Investment Management (AIM), a subsidiary of Advyzon.
For firms looking to grow their advisory capabilities, Fidelity has also introduced an advisory bundle that includes Wealthscape, eMoney, and a new product, Fidelity Managed Account Xchange Essentials (FMAX Essentials), which offers end-to-end wealth advisory capabilities with a streamlined investment lineup of both Fidelity and third-party products.
The FMAX Essentials investment menu includes roughly a quarter of the options found on the FMAX platform, FIWA’s larger scale customizable advisory offering, including a variety of mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs), as well as model portfolios, separately managed account (SMA), and unified managed account (UMA) wrappers.
FMAX Essentials is currently available to firms that custody with Fidelity and will introduce additional features and investment options over time.
Wealth management firms of all sizes will maintain access to Fidelity’s à la carte menu of platforms, tools, and integrations for fully customized technology solutions that can grow with them.
Integration Xchange, Fidelity’s open architecture digital store for wealth management firms, offers integrations with more than 200 fintech companies and API analytics to make it easier for firms to discover, evaluate, and implement new tech stack components.
