BOSTON, February 10, 2005 - Fidelity Investments today reported record levels in its retirement, pension, human resources and benefits administration business, marked by the addition of more than 1,500 new corporate and tax-exempt clients and an increase in assets under administration to an all-time high of $729.9 billion.¹

With strong sales and increasing client demand across its business, Fidelity currently provides about 19 million American employees and retirees at more than 13,000 organizations with a wide arry of integrated services for human resources administration, defined contribution, defined benefit, health and welfare, payroll and stock plan programs. Internationally, Fidelity provides HR and payroll applications to about 475 companies in Europe.

"The $24 billion human resources outsourcing industry has been evolving rapidly as vendors merge and consolidate to add capabilities, build scale and respond to market demand," said Peter J. Smail, president, Fidelity Employer Services Company.

"The industry is at a crossroads as capital requirements escalate to maintain internal systems and CEOs and CFOs press for cost nd process efficiencies and employee service enhancements."

Retirement Business

In its retirement business at the end of 2004, Fidelity's administered assets in defined contribution and defined benefit pension plans totaled $729.9² billion, up 14.9 percent compared with $635.3 billion at the end of 2003.

In its flagship defined contribution business, Fidelity's administered assets in 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans were $647.6 billion at the end of 2004, up 13.8 percent compared with $569.1 billion at the end of 2003. By the end of 2004, Fidelity was serving more than 12,900 employer-sponsored plans and 11.4 million participants. New and expanded client relationships included Cardinal Health and the University of California.

Fidelity also increased defined benefit pension plans and other retirement assets to a record milestone of $102.4³ billion at the end of 2004, an increase of 20.8 percent compared with $84.8 billion in 2003. For the year, Fidelity was awarded $9.7 billion in new asset management mandates. New clients included Oregon Investment Council, Washington State Investment Board and Shriners Hospitals for Children.

H&W, HR and Payroll Outsourcing

Fidelity's health and welfare, human resources and payroll outsourcing services continued to grow and attract wider interest among corporations. Fidelity now serves multiple benefit programs or provides human resources services - such as recruitment and staffing, employee administration, payroll and compensation and talent development and retention -- to about 100 large organizations.

With its new contracts in 2004, Fidelity provides HR administration and services multiple benefit plans for 7.5 million employees, exclusive of its defined contribution business. Fidelity continued to grow its health and welfare administration services and now administers plans for 2 million individuals

New and expanded relationships in 2004 included AXA Equitable, Bank of America, BASF, Bertelsmann AG and Pfizer. Fidelity now provides services to about 50 percent of the Fortune 500 companies.⁴

"HR and payroll administration is the fastest growing part of our business as we've nearly tripled the number of employees and retirees serviced in the past 18 months," Smail said. "Additionally, the number of companies using our HR tools for compensation planning, performance management, recruiting and development and learning is expanding rapidly."

Stock Plan Services

Fidelity's equity compensation services also continued to expand rapidly, with more than 900,000 participants in 2004, up 46 percent from more than 600,000 in 2003. In 2004, 55 new clients selected Fidelity for their stock option, stock purchase, restricted stock and/or stock appreciation rights programs.

Trends Driving the Business

Last year marked a significant shift as Fidelity led the financial services industry in focusing more attention on helping retrees successfully transition from saving for retirement to living off those savings in retirement, while managing assets for continued growth.

"Even as the first wave of 76 million Baby Boomers rapidly approaches retirement, we know that most investors have not yet developed an income plan, causing them to be at risk of outliving their savings," Smail said. "Our Retirement Income Advantage service addresses this critical planning need and helps investors with the complex task of monitoring and managing their complete financial situation throughout retirement."

With communication and education the No. 2⁵ retirement issue among retirement plan sponsors, Fidelity broadly rolled out its first|PERSON program last year. Early results reveal the program drove higher plan participation rates, dramatically⁶ increased salary savings deferrals and encouraged employees to initiate asset allocation investment reviews.

Total Retirement Consolidation

Fidelity also noted increased client demand for total retirement consolidation, in which organizations help employees plan more effectively for retirement by integrating their defined contribution and pensin programs. In 2004, Fidelity was selected by eight blue chip corporations to provide 401(k) and pension administration services to approximately 800,000 employees.

"Fidelity continues to make significant investments in its proprietary technology platform to broaden its administration and proessing capabilities and expand its capacity to service the programs of its thousands of clients," Smail said.

Fidelity rolled out a large-scale redesign of its NetBenefits^SM Website for employees and unveiled significant improvements to its Plan Sponsor WebStation^SM. The end result is a comprehensive array of human resources management, information, tools and resources.

To help manage rising health plan costs, Fidelity also teamed with WebMD Health to enable employees to securely access health information, health records and benefits data through a single online source. Available through NetBenefits^SM, the e-Health Portal can help reduce employer healthcare costs by providing employees with comprehensive information that enhances their ability to make more informed healthcare decisions.

About Fidelity Employer Services Company

Through its Workplace Services offering, Fidelity provides retirement, benefits and human resources outsourcing, workforce effectiveness, payroll solutions and stock plan services to approximately 19 million American employees and retirees as of December 31, 2004.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of $2.1 trillion, including managed assets of $1.1 trillion as of December 31, 2004. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, human resources and benefits outsourcing services to 19 million individuals and institutions as well as through 5,500 financia intermediaries. The firm is the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, one of the largest mutual fund supermarkets and a leading online brokerage firm. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.Fidelity.com.

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Defined Benefit, Health and Welfare, and HR Payroll services offered through Fidelity Employer Services Company LLC Certain company stock plan programs are administered by Fidelity Stock Plan Services LLC Brokerage services are provided by Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC Defined Contribution products and services are offered by Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc., 82 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA 02109

¹ Includes certain assets distributed by Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, managed by Fidelity Management Trust Company.

² Includes certain assets distributed by Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, managed by Fidelity Management Trust Company.

³ Includes $20.1 billion accounted for in total administered defined contribution assets of $647.6, as well as certain assets distributed by Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, managed by Fidelity Management Trust Company.

⁴Fortune, March '04. As of 12/31/03, Fidelity provided at least one service to 246 of the Fortune 500.

⁵ IOMA Annual Defined Contribution Survey

⁶ E-mail education prompted participants to more than double their deferral percentage to 12.5 percent from 6.2 percent. Measurement is from a 2003 deferral education campaign to 6,794 participants in 26 workplace retirement savings plans.