Fidelity introduced two new technology offerings that it said Monday were designed to reduce cost and resources, which the firm identified as two common tech barriers for smaller RIAs looking to establish and grow their businesses.
One of the new offerings is an all-in-one technology offering with Advyzon and Fidelity-owned eMoney, while the other solution is an advisory bundle including eMoney, Fidelity’s online brokerage platform Wealthscape and the new Fidelity Managed Account Xchange (FMAX) Essentials wealth management platform.
The solution that Fidelity collaborated on with Advyzon and eMoney is available now and provides access to special pricing for tools that Fidelity said are “deeply integrated” with Wealthscape. The offering was designed for smaller or newly established advisory firms to help reduce the time firm leaders spend on evaluating a tech stack and help streamline advisors’ critical workflows, Fidelity said.
Meanwhile, the advisory bundle was designed for firms looking to grow their advisory capabilities.
FMAX Essentials features a streamlined investment menu (including about 25% of the options found on FMAX) for a lower cost platform expanding “access to sophisticated managed account solutions like model portfolios, as well as deepen their investment advice and financial planning capabilities,” Fidelity said in a release.
FMAX Essentials is available now to firms that custody with Fidelity, and the company plans to introduce additional features and investment options “over time,” it said.
A Lack Of Tech Adoption
Fidelity pointed out Monday that its latest Advisor Technology Stack study found firms with less than $250 million in AUM were 1.8 times less likely to embrace technology best practices than firms with $1 trillion and more in AUM.
That lack of technology adoption could affect the rate of growth that small and medium sized firms experience because the study also found that wealth management firms deploying technology best practices were growing significantly faster than peers, according to Fidelity.
The same report found that advisory firms embracing technology best practices were seeing stronger efficiency and growth, better client experiences and higher advisor satisfaction than their peers.
Taking The Guesswork Out Of Tech Stack Selection
“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,” according to Noni Robinson, Head Of Emerging RIAs at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Management Services.
“Smaller firms and advisors launching their own business, however, often have fewer resources, which can put them at a disadvantage,” she said.
“Smaller firms and advisors launching their own business, however, often have fewer resources, which can put them at a disadvantage.”
Noni Robinson, Head of Emerging RIAs, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Management Services
But she explained: “Our offering takes the guesswork out of selecting a technology stack with solutions that support front-, middle-, and back-office employees at these firms.”
More Details
Advyzon’s suite of operational and portfolio management software includes customer relationship management (CRM), performance reporting, and billing for middle- and back-office support, along with investment management tools including a trading and rebalancing offered by Advyzon Investment Management.
The integration with Wealthscape also supports digital account opening, single sign on and APIs to view account positions and balances, Fidelity noted.
Fidelity had assets under administration of $14.1 trillion, including discretionary assets of $5.5 trillion, as of June 30, it said.
Over 109,000 advisors and other financial professionals across firms of all sizes use the eMoney platform to serve more than 6 million households throughout the U.S., while Advyzon now serves more than 1,500 advisory firms, Fidelity said.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor & Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jberman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
