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BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2005 - Fidelity Investments today announced third quarter results for Fidelity Brokerage Company showing that for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2005, net new client assets increased nearly five-fold, total client assets grew 33 percent, daily average commissionable trades rose 54 percent, and total client accounts increased 20 percent, compared with the third quarter 2004.
For the third quarter 2005, net new client assets, which include sales of Fidelity and non-Fidelity mutual funds and individual securities, were $66.7 billion, a nearly 400 percent increase compared with $13.5 billion in the third quarter of 2004. Retail net new client assets more than doubled to $10.7 billion compared with the third quarter of 2004, while institutional net new client assets increased nearly seven-fold to $56.0 billion. Total client assets under administration reached a record of nearly $1.4 trillion at the end of the third quarter, a 33 percent increase compared with $1 trillion at the end of third quarter 2004.
Fidelity Brokerage Company also reported that third quarter 2005 daily average commissionable trades were 263,267, up 54 percent from 170,804 in the third quarter 2004. Retail daily average commissionable trades increased 61 percent to 104,270 − the highest quarterly average since the second quarter of 2000 − and institutional trades increased 50 percent to 158,997. Additionally, total client accounts as of Sept. 30, 2005, were 16.5 million compared with 13.7 million, representing a 20 percent increase over a year ago.
First Nine Months Results
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2005, Fidelity Brokerage Company net new client assets were $158.8 billion, an increase of 120 percent compared with $72.1 billion during the first nine months of 2004. Daily average commissionable trades were 250,605 in the first nine months of 2005, an increase of 26 percent over the same period in 2004.
"We continued to produce excellent performance and gain market share across our retail and institutional brokerage businesses," said Ellyn A. McColgan, president, Fidelity Brokerage Company. "Our unrelenting focus on technology, service, quality and value continues to be the compelling competitive differentiator driving our leadership positions in brokerage for individuals, registered investment advisors and correspondent broker/dealers."
Retail Brokerage
Fidelity Personal Investments (FPI), the company's retail brokerage unit, implemented several key initiatives in the third quarter of 2005, including the elimination of its $50 annual brokerage fee, the introduction of two new variable annuity products and a national television and print advertising campaign featuring Paul McCartney.
Additionally, Fidelity enhanced its bond and money market fund offerings by lowering initial minimum investments in the Fidelity U.S. Bond Index Fund and standardizing minimum investments on money market funds. Fidelity also launched two new mutual funds during the quarter: the Fidelity International Small Cap Opportunities and Fidelity Strategic Real Return funds.
Institutional Brokerage
In the third quarter, Fidelity continued to make significant investments in its institutional brokerage platforms on behalf of its correspondent broker/dealer and registered investment advisor clients.
National Financial, Fidelity's correspondent broker/dealer business, continued to invest in the integrated brokerage solutions broker/dealers need to drive growth, reduce costs and manage risk. As part of this effort, the company conducted the "National Financial Broker Sentiment IndexSM," a first-of-its-kind measurement of U.S. brokers' career satisfaction, designed to assist broker/dealer firms in their efforts to attract and retain top brokers. National Financial also added new business from several major financial institutions during the quarter and continued to integrate broker/dealers from its acquisition of Fiserv Securities, Inc. and is on track to complete Fiserv-related conversions by year end.
Continuing to strengthen its position as the preferred outsourcing provider for independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group launched the innovative Fidelity Trustee Referrals program, which helps simplify the process for RIAs of selecting and working with advisor-focused trust companies who can serve as corporate trustees for high-net-worth clients' trusts. The company also introduced a series of enhancements to its online fixed-income platform, BondTraderPro®, including expanded product choice, powerful analytical tools and efficient online order entry.
About Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of $2.3 trillion, including managed assets of $1.1 trillion as of September 30, 2005. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and human resources and benefits outsourcing services to approximately 20 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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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 |
