Fidelity Institutional announced September 10 a range of price cuts and time-bounded fee waivers for advisors who custody client assets at Fidelity. Acknowledging that the move was a “competitive response,” Michael Durbin, president of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, called the cuts and waivers “an important part of our commitment to the RIA channel–we want to make sure that price isn’t somehow an impediment for our RIA clients or prospective RIA clients in their decision on how to choose a custodian.” Schwab Advisor Services announced very similar cuts and waivers earlier in the summer.
Durbin said Fidelity knows that “our growth will come from growth in the RIA channel,” and that the moves are likely “to help at the margin.”
The Fidelity cuts include time-bounded waivers from October 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010, on:
o commissions on electronic equity and options trades and transfer of account fees for new-to-Fidelity relationships established by advisors.