Fidelity plans $100 million RIA custody minimum with June 2027 deadline

Fidelity is planning to raise the minimum client-asset threshold for RIAs on its platform to $100 million, up from the $15 million level it set in 2008, according to Kitces' Weekend Reading for Financial Planners. The change applies to all RIAs on the platform.

Firms below the new line have until June 30, 2027 to reach the threshold or start the process of finding a new custodial home, the newsletter says. Fidelity told certain firms on its platform late last week, according to the newsletter. This publication reported Oct. 2 that Fidelity confirmed the letters and the deadline, and that Kitces called the hard no bizarre, noting past minimum increases let small firms pay a fee to stay.

Other RIA custodians are already competing to serve the firms that fall below the line, which the newsletter describes as numbering a few hundred. Receiving custodians are making the case for the move.

RIAs and their clients typically pay no explicit asset-based or headcount fee to the custodian, according to the newsletter; clients pay instead through the economics of low-rate cash sweep accounts, lending products and expense ratios on proprietary funds. Serving RIAs costs custodians money in service teams and administration.

The newsletter was published Oct. 9; from that date, the June 30, 2027 deadline is roughly nine months away.