US mutual fund manager Fidelity Investments says it is investing $50 million in the development of a Web-based wealth management platform, called WealthCentral, which will integrate the most critical operational systems for registered investment advisors.
Fidelity WealthCentral will eliminate the need for financial advisers to use multiple systems that are not compatible with one another, says the company.
The new platform will incorporate Oracle's Siebel CRM applications and financial planning software from Emerging Information Systems (EISI).
Fidelity has also selected Advent to provide outsourced applications for portfolio management and reporting services for the new platform. The Advent Back Office Service (ABOS) will download, post, reconcile and manage advisors' client data from multiple custodians, on a daily basis.
Fidelity says its platform will streamline and avoid the need for data re-entry as information is shared between applications. It will also offer single sign-on and allow advisors to pre-fill Fidelity forms, such as account applications.
"Today, advisors must buy their various technology applications in a piecemeal fashion and then try and make the systems work together as best they can - something that can be costly and extremely inefficient," says John Callahan, president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. "That's why Fidelity is investing $50 million in developing what we believe will be the strongest and most integrated platform in the industry - helping address this critical market need."
WealthCentral will be available in late 2008. The Oracle and EISI applications will be offered via Advisor Channel beginning later this year, while ABOS will be available in early 2008.