FidelityESG ProSM, developed in Fidelity Labsi, helps advisors create ESG model portfolios and proactively engage clients with ESG investing opportunities

More than two-thirds of Gen YZ and Gen X investors think it is very important for their advisors to include ESG investments in their portfoliosii, yet fewer than one in three advisors are very comfortable having ESG conversations with clientsiii

(BUSINESS WIRE)–To support growing demand for sustainable investingiv and help financial advisors facilitate environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing conversations with clients, Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of investment and technology products and solutions to more than 13,500 financial institutions, launches Fidelity ESG ProSM – a simple, streamlined ESG solution for advisorsv that brings together portfolio construction and client experience tools.

“It provides advisors with tools to deepen their relationships with existing clients — and engage prospective clients — by developing sophisticated investment strategies that align with clients’ distinct values.” Tweet this

Utilizing exclusive ESG research reports and fund insights from Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser LLC (FIWA), this open architecture solution allows advisors to create and customize ESG models using thousands of curated mutual funds and ETFs from Fidelity and other leading asset managers. Advisors can also leverage professionally constructed, ready-to-use ESG Pro® Models, helping them quickly scale their ESG offering while meeting the individual needs of their clients.

“Fidelity ESG Pro gives advisors everything they need to get started with ESG in one streamlined solution,” said Rick Smyers, Managing Director, Fidelity Labs. “It provides advisors with tools to deepen their relationships with existing clients — and engage prospective clients — by developing sophisticated investment strategies that align with clients’ distinct values.”

ESG Pro® delivers:

  • Model management capabilities, providing both ESG data and financial characteristics that help advisors ensure their investing strategy is intact as they look to align portfolios with clients’ values. ESG data points help advisors understand the distinct issues and exposures their models are incorporating.
  • Comparisons of up to four models at one time, helping advisors uncover differences in both ESG exposures and financial characteristics of their portfolios. Advisors can edit holdings and weights while seeing updates to data in real time.
  • Fund research that assists advisors with ESG mutual fund and ETF due diligence, covering over 100 ESG strategies. Research is conducted by FIWA using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, leveraging its proprietary “4 Pillar Rating Criteria” focused on Cost, Performance, Style Alignment and People & Process Consistency. Advisors can also sort and filter funds based on share class, expense ratio and more.

ESG Pro Engagement Tools Encourage Meaningful Client Conversations

ESG Pro helps advisors build relationships and have impactful client conversations through tools including:

  • The Values Discovery Quiz, a white-labeled, scenario-based client questionnaire that helps advisors get a better understanding of how their clients think about ESG factors and what is important to them. The quiz results generate talking points for advisors on how to best address particular focus areas and emphasize what’s top of mind for their clients. Spouses, children and other family members can each complete the quiz to get multi-generational conversations started.
  • Customized ESG reports that illustrate how clients’ ESG portfolios perform on up to 24 ESG characteristics compared to a traditional portfolio. These reports allow advisors to compare clients’ existing portfolios to an ESG model and a traditional benchmark, offering a tangible way to assess ESG differences between portfolios and help clients understand how their portfolio could better align to the issues they care most about.

Both the ESG Pro platform and reports can be branded with the firm’s logo and primary colors, resulting in a seamless brand experience for their clients.

Fidelity’s Commitment to Meeting ESG Needs

Fidelity understands clients are increasingly looking to influence social, environmental and governance outcomes through ESG solutions. Sustainable investing at Fidelity is guided by the same intellectual rigor and proprietary research that have shaped all its investment capabilities and experienced insights.

This lens and Fidelity’s continued dedication to serving financial intermediaries and institutions drive its commitment to ESG investment and technology products, as well as to providing solutions, insights and resources for advisors, including recent whitepapers on ESG Investing: An Advisor’s Guide to Strategies, Paths, and Approachesand ESG Investing for Advisors: Having Better Conversations with Clients.

ESG Pro is beginning to roll out now to registered investment advisors. For more information, visit www.esgpro.fidelity.com.

About FIWA

Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser LLC (FIWA) is a registered investment adviser and an indirect, wholly- owned subsidiary of FMR LLC. FIWA is the sponsor of ESG Pro.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity’s mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $9.8 trillion, including discretionary assets of $3.8 trillion as of December 31, 2020, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 35 million people invest their own life savings, 22,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing more than 13,500 institutions with investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for more than 70 years, Fidelity employs more than 47,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity/our-company.

About Fidelity Labs

Fidelity Labs is Fidelity Investments’ in-house fintech incubator. Founded in 2005 to accelerate the development of new tools and capabilities for Fidelity.com, Fidelity Labs continues to play a critical role in driving growth and innovation. The Fidelity Labs teams explore new business ideas and quickly test them with Fidelity’s diverse set of customers, businesses and financial institutions. Learn more at https://www.labs.fidelity.com.

The content provided herein is general in general in nature and is for informational purposes only. This information is not individualized and is not intended to serve as the primary or sole basis for your decisions as there may be other factors you should consider. Fidelity InstitutionalSM does not provide financial or investment advice. You should conduct your own due diligence and analysis based on your specific needs.

© 2021 Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Morningstar is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. and is not affiliated with Fidelity Investments.

Third party marks are the property of their respective owners; all other marks are the property of FMR LLC. Third parties referenced herein are independent companies and are not affiliated with Fidelity Investments. Listing them does not suggest a recommendation or endorsement by Fidelity Investments.

Fidelity InstitutionalSM (FI) provides investment products through Fidelity Distributors Company LLC; clearing custody or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC; and institutional advisory services through Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser LLC.

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i ESG Pro is offered by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser LLC (FIWA).
ii 2020 Fidelity Investor Insights Study.
iii Fidelity Institutional survey of advisor perspectives on ESG. 422 broker dealer and registered investment advisors were surveyed in October – November 2020.
iv Morningstar Sustainable Funds U.S. Landscape Report, February 14, 2020. According to Morningstar, flows into sustainable funds totaled $21.4 billion in 2019, a nearly fourfold increase over the previous calendar-year record, which was set in 2018.
v ESG Pro is now generally available to registered independent advisers (RIAs) in the U.S.

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