Fidelity launches managed account platform

Fidelity Institutional announced Monday it has gone to market with its managed account platform, called Fidelity Managed Account Xchange, about a year after the custodian first revealed plans to build it. 

The platform is designed to provide advisers a single platform they can use for everything from prospecting and new client onboarding to financial planning, investment allocation and ongoing management. FMAX also integrates with Fidelity Institutional's AMP robo-adviser for advisers looking to offer digital advice to small accounts.

The finished platform offers a combination of Fidelity model portfolios and managed account solutions alongside investment products from third-parties. The idea is to support the full range of adviser service models, including portfolio managers who want to create their own models and advisers who rely on model portfolios, separately managed accounts or unified managed accounts.

Assets in managed accounts are expected to soar to $11 trillion by 2023, according to data by Cerulli. 

The mutual fund giant created a new registered investment adviser last year called Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser. The entity allows Fidelity to handle investment management and due diligence, as well as provide advisory consulting and support to broker-dealers, banks, family offices and RIAs using FMAX.

Fidelity is also leveraging its existing integration with TAMP powerhouse Envestnet’s technology to support the managed account infrastructure, according to Gary Gallagher, head of investment and managed solutions for Fidelity Institutional. 

“Many of the advisers in the market that try to stitch together disparate technologies often are not only working with the tech, but also with the requisite service support of those different technology providers.”  Gallagher said.

A unified customer experience for Fidelity’s adviser clients was also a part of the larger business strategy when building out FMAX, according to Gallagher. 

Wirehouses, custodians and broker-dealers across the industry keep firing shots in the escalating battle over financial advisers’ workstations, Fidelity is hoping to keep pace, Gallagher said. 

“There’s a lot of competition in the marketplace — like TAMPs — but FMAX is unique because we’re delivering this in one place so advisers don’t have to try to navigate across multiple entities.”