The universe of advisors who may not meet Fidelity Investments’ new $100 minimum to custody assets is a few hundred firms, a spokesperson for the Boston-based financial giant confirmed on Wednesday, without giving an exact number.
The figure has been of interest since the country’s second-largest registered investment advisor custodian started warning advisors below the threshold that they’d have until June 30, 2027, to hit the minimum or exit.
According to the spokesperson, the firms account for less than 1% of Fidelity’s total clearing and custody assets under administration, which are about $5.8 trillion across 3,300 RIAs, family offices and broker/dealers. That asset level tracks with Fidelity’s recent moves to push its custody business upmarket, including a requirement that new firms have more than $100 million in assets and a stipulation dating back a decade that firms with under $15 million pay a $2,500 quarterly fee.
The majority of the firms that will be affected are also multi-custodial, according to Fidelity. That would presumably make a client shift easier, as opposed to RIAs that need to find a totally new custodian.
Whatever the exact number of advisors affected by the new minimum, the move prompted rival custodians and RIA platforms to champion their ability to serve as a landing spot. After the news broke last week, custodians, including Altruist, Axos, Betterment, Interactive Brokers and the largest RIA custodian, Schwab, all made their case on social media and in the trade press that they were well-positioned to take in exiting advisors.
For its part, Fidelity said in a statement that its “position as a leading firm in combined clearing and custody remains strong, as does our commitment to helping a wide range of third-party wealth managers best serve their end investors and grow their businesses.”
Various data providers had mined regulatory filings to come up with a number of firms that custody with Fidelity after the announcement. One of them, FINTRX, put the number at a figure closer to 1,000, but later retracted its report.
“FINTRX stands behind the data, which comes from publicly available Form ADVs filed by registered investment advisors,” a spokesperson wrote via email. “FINTRX removed the post from its website until they receive clarification from Fidelity.”
A separate report by AdvizorPro, which also tracks RIA data, also used Form ADV information and reached a similar conclusion. Fidelity declined to comment on the reports.
