Under the alliance, Fidelity's Registered Investment Advisor group will provide services for customers of SunGard's transaction network. The two groups will jointly market the new services to intermediaries such as banks and retirement record-keepers.

William Carey, president of Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group, says the alliance will help Fidelity become the brokerage service provider for around 600 SunGard clients, who have $100 billion in assets.

Under the agreement Fidelity will be the provide of brokerage, custody and clearing services for customers of STN Funds, which will continue to provide trade automation, systems integration and software services.

The offering also will be available to Fidelity's 170 bank trust and third-party administrator customers, as well as other financial intermediaries in these markets.

Fidelity says the ability to access a complete set of trade automation technology and brokerage services from a single platform will help intermediaries conduct mutual fund trading and settlement and simplify administration, accounting and reporting, while achieving straight-through processing.

Kevin Rafferty, president of the SunGard Transaction Network, says: "One of the ways we're enhancing STN Funds is through the incorporation of brokerage services via our alliance with Fidelity.

"By providing access to Fidelity's brokerage services through an STN connection, our institutional benefit administration, trust and wealth management customers will receive an expanded set of integrated investment and trade processing capabilities."

Fidelity and SunGard will jointly market and distribute the enhanced service to financial intermediaries, including existing customers of STN Funds. The firms say they are also committed to investing in technology to further enhance the joint offering and integration with SunGard's recordkeeping and trust systems.