Fidelity Rolling Out New RIA Platform, Rewards Card

Fidelity Investments has launched WealthCentral, a web-based wealth management platform that integrates critical operational systems for RIAs, including portfolio management, customer relationship management, financial planning, portfolio rebalancing and trading, into one workstation. The platform is in place with 25 clients and should be rolled out to Fidelity's remaining 3,500 RIA clients (with more than $335 billion in assets) this year and next.

In early December, Fidelity also released results from a study done by Moss Adams, which found that RIAs with integrated technology applications make 36 percent higher revenue per professional and 30 percent higher profits per owner vs. less-integrated RIAs.

In other news, Fidelity introduced its Retirement Rewards Card in cooperation with American Express for its IRA clients. IRA investors earn two points for each dollar spent. With 5,000 points, or $2,500 in purchases, the points can automatically be used to make a $50 contribution into the user's designated Fidelity IRA, redeem the rewards as cash in other Fidelity accounts or accumulate points and redeem them for travel, merchandise and other rewards.