Fidelity Reduces Fees for New Business

Among the changes, Fidelity said it will eliminate commission on electronic equity and options trades and transfer of account fees for new account relationships established by advisers from October 1 through June 30.

Also for new customers in that time period, Fidelity is waiving annual position fees for alternative investment accounts, annual trustee fees for personal trust accounts, and annual custody fees for separate accounts.

Advisers will also see reductions in technology costs, as Fidelity is slashing the price of its customer relationship management (CRM) software within the Fidelity WealthCentral platform. Specifically, the Oracle On-Demand application will see an ongoing 10% to 35% price reduction on the annual service fees, and Fidelity will cut 50% off the annual cost of Advent’s APX-hosed multi-custodial platform via ABOS for 2010 and 2011.

“These new pricing initiatives are an example of our focus on making the strategic, long-term investments that give advisers the tools to help them succeed,” said Michael Durbin, president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. “Price should not be a barrier to choosing where to custody a client’s assets. With our enhancements, we believe that advisers can now return their focus to finding the best technology and best service that can help them grow their practice over the long term.”

Fidelity’s decision to reduce fees follows a similar one earlier this summer from its competitor Charles Schwab (see “Schwab Waives Some Fees, Plans to Add Tools for RIAs”).