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BOSTON, April 19, 2005 - Fidelity Investments today announced first quarter
results for Fidelity Brokerage Company showing that for the three months ended March 31,
2005, total client assets rose 15 percent, total client accounts increased 12 percent, daily
average commissionable trades increased 7 percent and net new client assets declined 4
percent, compared with the first quarter 2004.
For first quarter 2005, total client assets under administration for the quarter were
$1.14 trillion, an increase of 15 percent from $995.0 billion one year ago. Total client
accounts on March 31, 2005 were 14.7 million, up 12 percent compared to 13.1 million over
the same period in 2004.
Fidelity Brokerage Company also reported that first quarter 2005 daily average
commissionable trades were 243,974, up 7 percent from 227,699 in the first quarter of 2004.
Additionally, net new client assets, which include sales of Fidelity and non-Fidelity mutual
funds and individual securities, were $30.7 billion, a decrease of 4 percent compared with
$32.0 billion in the first quarter of 2004. The decline in net new client assets resulted from
several large correspondent client implementations during the first quarter of 2004.
"Despite a slight downturn in the equity markets so far this year, Fidelity gained
trades, assets and accounts, reflecting the depth and strength of our retail and institutional
brokerage businesses," said Ellyn A. McColgan, president, Fidelity Brokerage Company,
which includes 10.1 million individual investor accounts, nearly 270 broker/dealers, and
more than 2,600 investment advisors. "We are continuing our aggressive efforts to broaden
the competitiveness and enhance the value of our brokerage offering with new tools,
services and pricing that serve the needs of our customers and help grow our brokerage
business."
Retail Brokerage
Fidelity Personal Investments (FPI) launched several key initiatives in the first
quarter of 2005 for retail investors including reducing pricing for Silver-level1 customers,
those trading 36 or more times a year, by 27 percent to $10.95. This price reduction rounded
out Fidelity's $8 flat pricing2 for active traders3 and standard pricing of $19.95 for general
investors. The firm also made it easier for investors to qualify for Silver-level commissions
by halving the asset-level requirements from $100,000 to $50,000.
Additionally, FPI added access for all customers to new third-party independent
research and became the first major brokerage firm to help its customers better understand
the accuracy of analyst recommendations by including both current analyst opinions and
past performance data at no additional charge. Fidelity also fixed the expenses of five
popular equity index funds at 10 basis points each4.
Institutional Brokerage
During the first three months of 2005, Fidelity continued to make significant
investments in its institutional brokerage platforms on behalf of its registered investment
advisor and correspondent broker/dealer clients.
Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group continued to position itself as the
preferred outsourcing provider to independent RIAs. The firm introduced a transitions
program designed to help all advisors build and realize the maximum value for their
business in the various stages of their practices, enhanced its current Advisor CHANNEL
brokerage platform with new options trading capabilities and announced plans to deliver
the next generation of Advisor CHANNEL - an integrated technology platform, that will be
the first in the industry to integrate portfolio management and contact management
technologies.
National Financial, Fidelity's correspondent broker/dealer business, completed its
acquisition of Fiserv, Inc.'s correspondent clearing business and began converting Fiserv
clients to its clearing platform, adding further scale to the business and securing its No. 2
position in the clearing industry in terms of clients. Additionally, National Financial
announced a strategic relationship with Envestnet Asset Management to offer
broker/dealers a unified managed account platform that is integrated with the Streetscape®
brokerage platform.
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 March 31,
2005. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and human
resources and benefits outsourcing services to more than 19 million individuals and
institutions as well as through 5,500 financial intermediary firms. 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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Please carefully consider the fund's investment objectives, risks charges and expenses before
investing. For this and other information, call or write Fidelity or visit Fidelity.com for a free
prospectus. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.
Clearing, custody, or other brokerage services may be provided by National Financial Services LLC or
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. Member NYSE, SIPC
Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
100 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110
National Financial Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
1 Silver-level pricing is available to households with $50,000+ in assets, $25,000+ in assets
and 36+ trades in a rolling 12-month period or no asset minimum and 72+ trades in a rolling
12-month period.
2 Eligible households pay $8 flat commissions(Gold Schedule) for online market and limit
orders. Eligible household accounts are those which qualify for Active Trader Services or
have $1M in assets. Some restrictions apply: Directed Trading orders, stocks trading under
$1, Extended Hours trades are subject to the $8 base rate up to 1,000 shares plus $0.005 per
share thereafter. Online stock trades for others may start at $19.95, see a Fidelity
commission schedule for complete details on all pricing levels. Fidelity reserves the right to
terminate an account at any time for abusive trading practices or any other reason.
3 Active Trader Services available to investors in households annually making at least 120+
stock, bond or options trades and maintaining $25,000 in assets across eligible Fidelity
brokerage accounts.
4 Effective March 1, 2005, FMR has contractually limited the fund's total annual fund
operating expenses (except interest, taxes, brokerage commissions, securities lending fees,
or extraordinary expenses), as a percentage of average net assets, to be 0.10%. This expense
limit may not be increased without approval of the fund's shareholders and board of
trustees.
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