Fidelity is extending its $100 million custody minimum to existing RIA clients, and advisors below the line will have to move. According to research drawn from Wealth Management, advisors with less than $100 million in client assets at Fidelity must leave by June 30, 2027.
Wealth Management reported that Fidelity announced the policy on October 1, 2026. InvestmentNews reported that the threshold previously applied only to new RIA relationships, so the change brings existing firms under the same standard. AdvisorHub reported that only assets held at Fidelity count toward the $100 million, not a firm's total assets under management.
A consultancy analysis cited in the research, from Winthrop, found that about 1,100 RIAs report less than $100 million at Fidelity on Form ADV. The notes do not say how many of those firms Fidelity will actually require to leave.
InvestmentNews placed the minimum alongside Fidelity's recent limits on long-short separately managed accounts. The outlet reported that Fidelity blocked advisors from opening new long-short SMA accounts in December 2025, then introduced higher fees for some advisors using the accounts in May 2026. InvestmentNews also reported that these strategies offer significant tax benefits to wealthy clients but can increase leverage, margin and operational demands on custodians.
In its summary, InvestmentNews quoted an RIA founder as saying that smaller RIAs using AQR's popular long-short strategies bring custodians more risk and less revenue. AQR Capital Management, founded in 1998, is one of the largest providers of tax-aware long/short strategies, according to a provider list cited in the research.
Wealth Management reported that Fidelity, based in Boston, is the second-largest RIA custodian after Schwab. It also reported that Fidelity set a mandated $2,500 quarterly fee in 2013 for firms with under $15 million in client assets. Schwab has no publicly reported minimums for RIAs to custody with the firm, Wealth Management said.
AdvisorHub reported that Devon Klumb of Betterment Advisor Solutions said the move appears designed to consolidate firm assets. Klumb said Betterment has no minimum.
Separately, RIABiz reported in September that Fidelity agreed to support Savvy Wealth, a $9 billion RIA custody client, as it prepares to launch its own RIA custody service, expected in 2027.