Fidelity Investments garnered a hefty rise in business from breakaway brokers during the year's first nine months, the company announced Thursday.
The Boston-based custodian said it helped nearly 120 individual brokers and teams go the independent route. In aggregate, they manage a total of $8 billion, and Fidelity said that represents a 26% jump in average assets per breakaway versus the year-earlier period.
Fidelity said about 45% of breakaway brokers it worked with started their own registered investment advisor firm, and that their average asset level was 57% more than the new RIAs it helped transition in the same period last year.
The remainder either joined an existing RIA on Fidelity's platform, or joined a broker-dealer client of National Financial, Fidelity's broker-dealer clearing and custody division.
Fidelity said five of the breakaway brokers it helped go independent had assets greater than $500 million.