Fidelity Investments' institutional group has introduced a wealth management platform to help advisers deepen their relationships with the wealthy, and an analyst says it should appeal to small banks that cannot afford to build their own.
Fidelity WealthAccess is a platform of products and services designed for wealthy people, the company said on Wednesday. These services include wealth planning, trust services, cash management, individual securities, managed accounts, and educational material for wealth managers.
David Ross Palmer, an analyst at Lobue & Associates, said a wealth management platform "such as this puts a smaller institution in a competitive position."
Donna Morris, a marketing and product management division executive in Fidelity's institutional brokerage group, said that, in a difficult market, broker-dealers and advisers are trying to find ways to develop better relationships with their high-net-worth clients.
"Our clients, the advisers, want to be able to provide more than just products; they want to provide services," she said. "They want to establish a financial plan. Our clients have indicated that when they establish the plan, even when product revenues decline, their overall revenue continues to go up because of the services."
Fidelity, which has $160 billion of high-net-worth assets in custody, has been developing WealthAccess for 18 months. Gary J. Gallagher, a senior vice president at Fidelity, said last spring that it had asked advisers what types of products and services they needed. He said most advisers were interested in services and education to support the wealthy.
"Going forward, advisers realize that they will have to compete with private banks in order to manage assets for wealthy individuals," Mr. Gallagher said. "Advisers want to play the quarterback role and build from this platform."
Fidelity, which has relationships with most large banking companies, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., is not the first institution to launch a wealth management platform of products and services. State Street Global Advisors Inc. started its Office of the Family Advisor in January. This unit offers financial planning, investment management, and trust and custody services in an effort to attract wealthy clients.
Ms. Morris said Fidelity researched similar wealth management platforms but found nothing as "complete" as WealthAccess.
"Fidelity is preparing services, and the smaller institution is providing a distribution system that can help Fidelity," Lobue's Mr. Palmer said. "It is crucial that at the local level a bank has at least two to three experienced professionals on their own staff to deliver this. The wealthy want high-touch service."
Ms. Morris said staffing locally is crucial. Most banks are using the various materials and services that are available to augment their local staffs, she said, and to expand and broaden what they present to customers.
"This kind of product is all about changing and broadening an adviser's relationship, not replacing an advisory relationship," Ms. Morris said. "Advisers don't just want to be thought of as someone that manages a portfolio. They want to be relied on for more. They want to be instrumental in helping make clients successful in the long term."
