Fidelity and Envestnet are helping advisors get more holistic

Fidelity and Envestnet are building on their more than two decades of partnership, which has grown to include more than $500 billion across managed accounts, to deliver a new suite of unified wealth and advisory solutions.

Building on Fidelity’s Managed Account Xchange, FMAX, and their existing relationship, the new platform aims to meet the increasing demand for unified technology solutions in the wealth management sector.

According to Envestnet's 2024 Market Intelligence Survey, while 61 percent of advisors currently use point solutions for specific needs, the preference is shifting towards all-in-one technology platforms. This new collaboration between Fidelity and Envestnet seeks to address this shift by combining their technology and services with proprietary data management and investment solutions.

“Investment management will always be the foundation of an advisor’s offering, but the rising demand for holistic wealth management means they must be more deliberate about where and how they spend their time,” Gary Gallagher, head of wealth advisory and portfolio solutions at Fidelity Institutional said in a statement.

As part of their enhanced partnership, Fidelity and Envestnet are working on enhancements to FMAX to address the needs of wealth firms and advisors across the spectrum.

The new capabilities, to be delivered through Fidelity’s service model along with enhanced workflows by Envestnet, are aimed at offering more holistic wealth management solutions, including tax management for model portfolios and integration with Envestnet’s Insurance Exchange and other high-net-worth solutions.

The enhanced FMAX platform will also produce more comprehensive insights and reporting that integrates with Envestnet’s institutional data aggregation capabilities, as well as its Vantage performance reporting solution. That includes the ability to view positions and portfolios within and outside Fidelity’s brokerage platform.

The firms are also working on a new solution, FMAX Essentials. With an anticipated 2024 rollout, FMAX Essentials includes a selection of investment solutions aimed at smaller and mid-sized RIAs, broker-dealers, and family offices, as opposed to the existing FMAX platform that has a fully customizable open-architecture structure to address firms with complex needs.

Andrew Stavaridis, chief relationship officer and group head of wealth solutions distribution at Envestnet, highlighted the expanded partnership’s potential to help advisors optimize their workflow, perform account management tasks more efficiently, and build deeper relationships with clients by holistically addressing their financial planning needs.

“Providing personalized solutions for clients – at scale – is expected to become a more seamless and unified experience through this unique collaboration,” Stavardis said.

Advisors will also continue to have access to wealth management and educational resources through Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser. FIWA’s resources include quantitative and qualitative research on investment managers, both Fidelity and third parties, support from Fidelity’s investment consultants and portfolio solutions team, and practice management and education through Fidelity’s Wealth Advisory Institute