Growing an advisory business with fewer clicks and fewer steps is the endgame to Fidelity Investments' new revamp of its Fidelity Managed Account Xchange (FMAX) platform. 

The Boston-based investment powerhouse announced on June 13 that it is working with longtime partner Envestnet to more fully integrate FMAX with other existing services so users can get streamlined access to Fidelity's tax management for model portfolios and high net worth solutions, for example. The integration will also include new capabilities launched throughout the coming months, such as integrating Envestnet's institutional data aggregation and performance reporting tool, Vantage, onto Fidelity's FMAX platform. 

"We're delivering even a more comprehensive wealth management solution set into this … that includes needs that we're hearing from advisors around an increased need for tax management, personalization through custom models, and also integration into some of investments and capabilities, particularly in the insurance exchange, which is bringing insurance into the wealth management proposition," said Gary Gallagher, head of wealth advisory and portfolio solutions at Fidelity Institutional. This is "really the alignment of our two firms coming together to deliver what I would consider a next-generation unified wealth management platform." 

Fidelity has a 20-year relationship with Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based Envestnet across different platforms and services that has driven more than $500 billion across managed accounts, the firm said. More than 109,000 advisors will have access to the newly integrated FMAX platform.

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More broadly, there's been an industry-wide push in recent years for wealth management technology providers to offer a more holistic, fully integrated platform. In January, wealth advisor digital platform provider Savvy Wealth launched a more holistic platform for advisors to better customize high net worth client portfolios, called Savvy Wealth Investment Management (SWIM). 

And earlier this month, Envestnet announced a different partnership with BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and State Street. The agreement gives those four firms exclusive access to Envestnet's unified managed account tools and more portfolio management customization. 

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This concept of creating a more streamlined platform with customization is what Andrew Stavaridis, Envestnet's chief relationship officer and group head of wealth solutions, calls removing "the swivel chair." 

"That swivel chair approach is what we're trying to eliminate so … if you're going into an application, you feel like you're going in and out of that application all the time — different systems in order to run your business — that can be taxing in terms of your ability to scale," Stavaridis said."Clients today are looking for more integrated, better experience platforms that allow clients and advisors to interact in a more digital experience." 

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As part of the latest agreement between Fidelity and Envestnet, Gallagher said Fidelity will be integrating Vantage, Envestnet's institutional data aggregation and reporting platform, onto the FMAX platform. 

This allows "our clients to view positions and portfolios both on and off of Fidelity's brokerage platform," he said."So this notion of bringing more collective, more comprehensive data and insights to an advisor's book or an institution's book of business is really going to be a nice addition to our capability." 

Later this year, Fidelity also plans to launch FMAX Essentials — a more customizable investment solutions offering that targets small- and mid-size firms — on the main FMAX platform. 

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"It's going to allow us to essentially provide even more value in a disruptive way to firms that are small and midsize that want something even more curated, and it offers a really strong value proposition," Gallagher said. 

Rachel Witkowski Tech Reporter, Financial Planning

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