New Advisor Technology Solutions From Fidelity® Announced at T3 Conference

While at the T3 Technology Conference for financial advisors today, Fidelity® announced new technology tools – that will be accessible via WealthscapeSM – designed to help registered investment advisors, broker/dealers, banks and family offices “get smarter and go faster.”

Attendees of the Technology Tools for Today (T3) Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida can visit Fidelity at Booth #500 to learn more about Wealthscape and the availability of a suite of tools to extend the power of the platform.

Tim Morello, Fidelity Investments, will also be presenting at the T3 conference on the main stage, February 7, 2018, from 1:00 – 1:40 pm in the Caribbean Ballroom. In “Get Smarter, Go Faster: 2018 Will Be the Year to Turn Data into Insights” advisors will learn how they can leverage technology to create the most value in their relationships with clients.

Advisors can also visit go.fidelity.com/wealthscape or contact their Fidelity relationship manager to learn more about the tools designed to help them digitize their businesses and deepen relationships with their clients.

GET SMARTER, GO FASTER

  • Consolidated Data will aggregate information from external accounts to provide advisors with a full view of client assets across financial institutions; in pilot Q3 2018.
  • Insights + Analytics will analyze data from advisors’ books of business and help develop new business insights, which may lead to a better understanding of clients and increased profitability; in pilot Q3 2018.

Wealthscape began to roll out in 2016 and 2017, first with Fidelity’s deep integrations with planning software from eMoney Advisor,[i] and following up with access to Fidelity’s Performance Measurement solution and Fidelity AMP (Automated Managed Platform), a digital advice offering co-developed with eMoney. New capabilities that will be accessible via Wealthscape are coming to market in 2018, including: Consolidated Data, Insights +Analytics, Advanced Modeling & Rebalancing and Wealthscape Integration Xchange.[ii]

“2018 will be the year to turn data into insights – and that will be an advisor’s competitive differentiator,” said Tim Morello, vice president of product management, Fidelity Institutional. “Advisors have always known how important data is, but now through the Consolidated Data offering, they will be able to access and leverage data to help them efficiently make informed decisions about – and for – their clients. That’s the key to unlocking the true growth potential in their firms.”

According to Fidelity’s benchmarking research,[iii] firms are more committed than ever to making client segmentation a strategic priority. While understanding client segments and then spending time with clients accordingly is shown to drive productivity and firm growth,[iv] determining the best path forward to implement a segmentation strategy – including finding the best technology to fuel it – leaves many firms in limbo.

“Most advisors and firm leaders did not enter the wealth management business because they were obsessed with technology,” said Morello. “They want to help their clients achieve financial wellness and build better futures, not spend time agonizing over technology decisions and making it all work together.

“Our role is to provide them with technology options they can be confident will complement their existing operations and grow with their firms and we are significantly raising the bar this year. We make this all accessible through our open architecture framework while, importantly, fueling our tools with robust data. This is how we’ll help advisors get smarter about their clients and move faster – a pace that is necessary to scale their businesses,” continued Morello.

CONSOLIDATED DATA TO PILOT Q3 2018

One of the key expansions accessible through Wealthscape will be an integrated Consolidated Data offering,[v] which should allow advisors access to a comprehensive view of client assets across financial institutions.

As more investors expect holistic advice, it is vital that advisors have access to their clients’ overall financial picture. To solve for this, many of Fidelity’s broker/dealer, bank, and RIA clients have either been developing their own data solutions or paying for data from outside vendors. These solutions face potential obstacles, such as flawed reconciliation, a disjointed experience and costliness to maintain. Fidelity aimed to solve these problems, focusing on quality and reliability, with Consolidated Data.

  • Fidelity will aggregate data on an ongoing basis from multiple sources, including: Fidelity data, assets under administration,[vi] client-permissioned data,[vii] market data, customer relationship management (CRM) data and firm-provided data.
  • Consolidated Data from Fidelity will be normalized and streamlined across sources, including accounts, positions, balances, transactions, and client-provided data. Then, if necessary, an analyst will remediate data issues to help better achieve accuracy and completeness.
  • Investor and firm data inform the consolidated picture.

Firms will be able to use Consolidated Data from Fidelity with Wealthscape’s existing Portfolio Tools, such as Performance Measurement, Advanced Modeling & Rebalancing, or with their firms’ proprietary and third-party tools.[viii] Additional solutions that will be powered by Consolidated Data from Fidelity will include Proposal Generation, Fee Billing and Insights + Analytics — all to be accessible through and integrated within Wealthscape. The Consolidated Data is planned to pilot in Q3 2018 with Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions broker-dealer, RIA, family office and bank clients.

INSIGHTS + ANALYTICS TO PILOT Q3 2018

One of the first tools that Consolidated Data from Fidelity will fuel is Insights + Analytics, an offering which explores how quantitative techniques, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics, can help advisors save time, grow their businesses and enhance their relationships with clients. The first custom-built solution within Insights + Analytics will be a set of book analytics capabilities, developed closely with client feedback and Fidelity practice management expertise to create a “story-based” interface that helps advisors answer real business questions.

The Insights + Analytics solution will fill a gap in the marketplace by not just presenting aggregated data, but also helping interpret this complex data so that it is meaningful and actionable for businesses. Insights + Analytics will allow advisors and firms to:

  • Analyze: See a snapshot of their book of business, which provides a starting point for further exploration.
  • Segment: Identify segments in their book of business that are thriving or that need attention.
  • Find Opportunity in Outliers: Look at correlations between a variety of metrics – including age, revenue and AUM – to assess clients at risk and identify what assets contribute the most revenue.
  • Determine Client Value: Evaluate the characteristics of the most valuable clients in their current book of business and as Insights + Analytics evolves, later apply these learnings to prospective clients.

Insights + Analytics will automate manual tasks and is scalable across a firm, allowing advisors to spend less time analyzing data and more time implementing their informed decisions. Advisors will be able to interpret insights and leverage their personal experiences and relationships to take action.

Insights + Analytics has been built so that it can grow as client needs expand and new data becomes available. When Insights + Analytics begins to pilot in Q3 2018, it will leverage Fidelity-only data through the Consolidated Data offering. In the later phases of Insights + Analytics, the tool will be fueled by multi-custodial data and client CRM feeds, and have the potential to analyze data that helps answer business questions around inter-generational connectivity, client life events, next best action and inter-firm benchmarking.[ix]

WEALTHSCAPE INTEGRATION XCHANGE EXPECTED TO BE AVAILABLE IN Q3 2018

With the myriad of technology options available today, connectivity and integration must be a top priority. However, how that connectivity takes place varies by firm. Some firms have their own proprietary offering, others prefer a “one-stop-shop” tech solution, while some prefer to mix and match between Fidelity’s solutions, third parties and their own technology. Flexibility is key, and Wealthscape Integration Xchange meets all of these needs by offering two categories of integrations: Integration Services and Third Party Tools.

  • Integration Services provides direct links between firm technology systems and Wealthscape data and products and will be available through a digital store, expected beginning in Q3 2018. The digital store will be stocked with:
    • Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
    • Framing and Linking Capabilities
    • Data Feeds

As the store evolves in the future, firms will have the flexibility to explore and test integrations so that they can simplify deployment.

  • Firms can also take advantage of other Third Party Tools, connections between more than 100 third-party technology solutions and Wealthscape in categories including CRM, financial planning, analytics, compliance data aggregation, digital advice, research and trading.

For more information on Integration Xchange visit: go.fidelity.com/IntegrationXchange.

WEALTHSCAPE SOLUTIONS GAIN TRACTION

Solutions available through Wealthscape began to roll out in 2016 and are succeeding in market with advisors:

  • Fidelity’s deep integrations with planning software from eMoney Advisor (eMoney) have been adopted by more than 1,500 users, including advisors and staff, across 500+ firms.
  • Fidelity AMP (Automated Managed Platform), Fidelity’s digital advice solution co-developed with eMoney, has been deployed with more than 20 firms and an additional 150 firms are in the pipeline.
  • Portfolio Tools are in high demand, with the first solution in this suite, Performance Measurement now deployed with 30 firms and Advanced Modeling & Rebalancing expected to become available in Q2 2018. Fully integrated with Wealthscape, Advanced Modeling & Rebalancing will offer household rebalancing, asset class rebalancing and tax-aware capabilities.

ABOUT FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

Fidelity’s mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses it serves. With assets under administration of $6.8 trillion, including managed assets of $2.4 trillion as of December 31, 2017, Fidelity focuses on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 26 million people invest their own life savings, 23,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing more than 12,500 financial advisory firms with investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for 70 years, Fidelity employs more than 40,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit https://www.fidelity.com/about.


Footnotes and disclosures:

The content provided herein is general in nature and is for informational purposes only. This information is not individualized and is not intended to serve as the primary or sole basis for your decisions as there may be other factors you should consider. The third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of FMR LLC or an affiliated company.
Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions® provides clearing, custody or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. Members NYSE, SIPC.
[i] An affiliated third party.
[ii] Some of these capabilities will be provided by a Fidelity Investments-affiliated business.
[iii] The 2017 Fidelity RIA Benchmarking Study was conducted between April 19 and June 6, 2017. 408 firms participated. The study was conducted in collaboration with an independent third-party research firm unaffiliated with Fidelity Investments. The experiences of the RIAs who responded to these studies may not be representative of the experiences of other RIAs and are not an indication of future success.
[iv] Advisor Community Segmentation Research 2016.
[v] Some of these capabilities will be provided by a Fidelity Investments-affiliated business.
[vi] Made available by other custodians and directly held assets (DST, DAZL, DTCC, NSCC).
[vii] Information on external assets provided through partnership with eMoney.
[viii] Restrictions may apply.
[ix] Some of these capabilities will be provided by a Fidelity Investments-affiliated business.

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