Fidelity's Institutional Brokerage Group has entered into a strategtic alliance with
Capital Professional Advisors, Inc. to provide custody, execution and clearing services for the 22 accounting firms, the company said today. Last January FIBG was named the preferred provider of these services buy the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
The partners are trying to meet the needs of CPA firms who are increasingly turning to providing investment advice and services to their clients as a way to boost their own revenues.
Capital Professional Advisors (CPA) was founded in 1999 as a membership organization intended to help the nation's mature, middle-market accounting firms diversify and develop a comprehensive financial service array. CPA currently has 22 member firms.
Fidelity will provide services to two CPA divisions, its broker-dealer unit and its investment advisory unit which offers fee-based services. Those firms have approximately 300,000 clients, according to CPA. Among the services to be offered are Fidelity's Channel and MaxxBroker systems.
CPA member firms will have access to a full range of products including fee-based products, cash management accounts, individual and small business retirement programs, a mutual fund supermarket, margin and option accounts, and institutional brokerage services through Fidelity Capital Markets, a unit of FIBG. Additionally, through FIBG's Mobile Investor Network, Capital's member firms will be able to offer their customers the ability to access their account via wireless devices or by speech recognition telephony.
CPA's advisory services will provide turnkey investment advisory and consulting solutions to its member firms, allowing them to offer clients an array of fee-based investment alternatives, including discretionary, non-discretionary and model portfolio accounts. Through its alliance with FIBG and other financial service firms, Capital says it will make a number of investment instruments available, including stocks and bonds, mutual funds, exchange traded index funds, and separate account managers.
"Clients want objective, professional, personalized investment advice, and while our member firms are in a unique position to provide this advice, they lack the necessary platforms," said
Doug Wright, Capital Professional Advisors' President and COO.
He said that CPA chose Fidelity "because of its comprehensive and sophisticated capabilities in both brokerage and fee-based practice areas."
"We're pleased that Capital selected us and look forward to helping CPA firms meet the growing demand for their financial advice and planning," said Robert Mazzarella, president of Fidelity's Institutional Brokerage Group.
 
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