Fidelity's Ron O'Hanley has passed over Geode Capital Management in favor of ETF-partner BlackRock. Formal word came when SEC filings made by Fidelity revealed plans by Tony Rochte's Rocky Mountain skunkworks, dubbed SelectCo.

Rochte is overseeing the launch of new Fidelity-sector ETFs that will be subadvised by BlackRock's iShares team.

The agreement between BlackRock and Fidelity will tie 10 passively-managed ETFs to MSCI indexes [N-1A filing]. Barron's and ETF Trends both reported on the move.

“Fidelity hired BlackRock to leverage its passive investment management expertise and scale, allowing us to get to market faster,” according to a statement from Fidelity spokeswoman Nicole Goodnow, which was initially quoted by Financial Times reporter Jackie Noblett, who was cited by ETF Trends.

The move is the latest piece of the Fidelity-BlackRock ETF alliance. Three years ago Fidelity began offering 25 iShares ETFs commission free on its discount brokerage platform, and that deal has since expanded to cover 65 iShares ETFs. Meanwhile, SSgA alum Tony Rochte rejoined Fidelity a year ago specifically to run a new division focuses on specialized sector investments.

Separately, in May the SEC approved Fidelity's request to launch active ETFs. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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