Fidelity to Offer Envestnet Workstation to Advisers

In response to witnessing a growing number of advisers actively developing their retirement practices in the past three years, Fidelity Clearing & Custody has partnered with Envestnet Retirement Solutions to offer Envestnet’s new workstation. Available through Fidelity’s WealthCentral and Streetscape platforms, the workstation will provide advisory firms access to retirement plan data and service providers.

Fidelity says that since 2013, it has seen a 51% increase in the number of advisers merely accommodating retirement plan requests to strategically growing their retirement plan business, and that these advisers are looking to manage that growth in an efficient and strategic way. In a survey of 933 advisers that Fidelity conducted in October 2014, the firm learned that 40% believe that technology can help them streamline their time and create efficiencies. Thirty-two percent agreed that technology can make client communications more convenient, 31% said it can help them increase frequency of communications with clients and 29% said it can help them increase quality time with clients by reducing administrative tasks. However, only 36% of retirement advisers said they are using all of the technological tools they need to effectively run their practice.

“The industry has realized the opportunity that retirement plans present,” says Meg Kelleher, senior vice president, retirement adviser and recordkeeper segment at Fidelity Clearing & Custody. “Now many firms are focused on scale and asking, ‘How do we grow this side of the business efficiently?’ We see this workstation as the first important step in our open architecture platform, which will drive efficiency for retirement plan advisers.”

Fidelity said the new workstation will be available to Fidelity Clearing & Custody clients in the first quarter of 2016.