Fidelity combines clearing and custody units, creates tech division

Fidelity Investments combined its clearing and custody units on Tuesday and created a new technology division. Fidelity Clearing and Custody will be headed by Sanjiv Mirchandani, the president of National Financial. The combined clearing and custody units ended 2014 with $1.5 trillion in assets under administration. The new tech division, Fidelity Wealth Technologies, will be led by the former head of the custody unit, Michael Durbin. "These are both very fast growing and fast moving areas of financial services," Mr. Durbin said. Earlier this month, the custodian acquired eMoney Advisor. The eMoney business will be part of Fidelity Wealth Technologies. This is not the first time Fidelity has rejiggered parts of its business that cater to advisers. In 2013, the company underwent a major overhaul when it streamlined business units catering to registered investment advisers, broker dealers, banks and retirement plan clients. Since then, assets under administration in the clearing and custody business have grown by nearly 30%. The creation of Fidelity Wealth Technologies is intended to promote innovation in the clearing and custody businesses. Last fall, Abigail Johnson took over as chief executive officer of Fidelity, aiming to keep advisers in mind. "A lot of what we've done has come from feedback — it's very client-driven," Mr. Mirchandani said. "These types of moves are not something we take lightly."