72-year-old Fidelity bets on the future with blockchain, virtual reality and AI
- The Boston-based private company is experimenting with blockchain, artificial intelligence and virtual reality — and is benchmarking itself against digital natives like Nvidia instead of brokerage firms like Charles Schwab.
Failure is acceptable but they had to create a separate place to do it, far away from the retirement and other fund businesses.
Johnson pointed out that financial services don't have a high "fun factor," which makes it hard for the average person to care about it. That's not obvious during a visit to the lab, where virtual reality headsets are strewn on tables and a corn-hole game sits in the corner.
The "7th Floor Village" at the company's headquarters was designed to counter the staid reputation financial firms tend to have, transporting visitors from Boston's Seaport to Silicon Valley. The floor was redesigned a year ago to jibe with the working environment software engineers expect: open plan with no offices or assigned desks. People work at broad communal tables or standing desks, and bright colored couches are scattered about. Nearby, there is cold brew coffee on tap.
Fidelity is moving to zero fees in some areas. Just a month after announcing it would become the first financial company to offer no-fee index mutual funds, Fidelity attracted roughly $1 billion into the two portfolios. It offers access to more than 260 other commission-free ETFs. On stock trading, the firm is betting that the quality of its brokerage services will resonate with customers more than the appeal of zero fees.
In the meantime, Katie Chase, the head of strategy for Fidelity Center for Applied Technology and head of the Blockchain Incubator (which is a part of FCAT), is exploring uses for both public blockchain and enterprise blockchain. Chase could not comment specifically on the projects but said she's seen massive interest from clients and partners, as well as their own employees.