More than 600 firms now use WealthCentral, according to an announcement today by
Fidelity Investments. The company went on to state that it expects the number of users of the platform to more than double within the next year.
The Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services unit launched the first-of-its-kind integrated web-based platform in
December 2008, after having spent $50 million on its development.
Despite the surge in users, the custodian's beachhead with registered investment advisers could soon face some serious competition.
Schwab Institutional and
TD Ameritrade Institutional are at work on their own integrated platforms.
Pershing LLC's consolidated NetX360 platform, launched last year, has also gained traction with hybrid RIA firms.
Certainly, RIAs have a wider array of platform choices than they did just a few years ago. Rivals to the major custodians now include small but tech-savvy custodians such as
Shareholders Service Group Inc. and
TradePMR Inc. as well as third-party technology providers such as
Tamarac Inc.
As for today's announcement about WealthCentral, Fidelity noted that it has made a series of enhancements to the platform's trading and reporting capabilities. Included among these are block-order creation capabilities that flow directly from the platform's portfolio modeling and re-balancing tool. Advisers can now also receive automated alerts for mutual fund trades that could be subject to a short-term redemption fee.
In addition, advisers can generate reports on a client's fixed-income positions with more detailed data on holdings.
The WealthCentral platform combines a highly customized customer relationship management application from Oracle with portfolio management using Advent Portfolio Exchange. The product also features NaviPlan Central financial planning software (from Emerging Information Systems Inc.) and portfolio rebalancing and trading developed by Northfield Information Services.
Related stories:
TD to open Veo architecture to third parties to lure advisers
TD Ameritrade launches tech initiative, moves toward completely open architecture
Schwab releases more details about new advisory tech platform
Fidelity, Pershing, Schwab, TD in a tech 'arms race'
Will Pershing's NetX360 live up to its promise of full integration?
Fidelity to spend $50M on platform for advisers
