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BOSTON, January 18, 2006 - Fidelity Investments today announced fourth quarter and year-end 2005 results for Fidelity Brokerage Company which showed that total client assets set a company record at nearly $1.4 trillion, daily average commissionable trades increased 23 percent and total client accounts increased 16 percent for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2005, compared with the fourth quarter 2004.
Fidelity Brokerage Company reported total client assets under administration were $1.4 trillion, an increase of 23 percent from $1.1 trillion one year ago. Daily average commissionable trades were 275,075, up 23 percent from 223,223 in the fourth quarter of 2004. Additionally, total client accounts in the fourth quarter were 16.6 million, up 16 percent compared to the same period in 2004.
For the fourth quarter 2005, net new client assets, which include sales of Fidelity and non-Fidelity mutual funds and individual securities, were $35.7 billion, a decrease of 32 percent compared with $52.1 billion in fourth quarter 2004 resulting from several large correspondent client implementations during the fourth quarter of 2004.
"We posted significant gains in the quarter and in the year as customers responded to our series of initiatives to deliver lower cost mutual funds and annuities, to enhance our sophisticated trading and clearing technology, and provide greater product and pricing transparency," said Ellyn A. McColgan, president, Fidelity Brokerage Company, the nation's second largest brokerage firm by assets. "We posted double-digit increases in each of our businesses that provide products and services to individuals, registered investment advisors and correspondent/broker-dealers."
We had our best quarter ever for daily average commissionable trades and recorded unsurpassed growth in client accounts and assets. The retail business set its own yearly record for net new client assets."
Full-Year Results
For the 12 months ended December 31, 2005, Fidelity reported that net new client assets increased 56 percent to $194.4 billion, compared with $124.3 billion in 2004. Daily average commissionable trades for the full-year 2005 were 256,723, an increase of 25 percent from 204,984 over the prior year.
Retail Brokerage
Fidelity Personal Investments (FPI) launched several major initiatives throughout 2005 that increased the competitiveness of its overall offering for individual investors. FPI continued to expand its retail pricing enhancements which included reducing online equity commissions for middle-tier customers by 37 percent, as well as halving asset-level requirements for these customers, eliminating the $50 annual brokerage fee and simplifying the retail margin1 rate schedule.
Additionally, FPI became the first brokerage firm to help its customers better understand the accuracy of analyst recommendations by combining current analyst opinions with past performance data at no additional charge. The firm also enhanced its offering to active traders2 integrating technical and fundamental analysis in its back-testing platform, Wealth-Lab ProTM3.
Fidelity continued to expand its national network of investor centers, ending the year with 110 branches in major metropolitan areas across the country. The business also introduced a cross-company "Fidelity Retirement IndexSM4" - a first of its kind analytical index designed to track the nation's retirement readiness - and introduced a national television and print advertising campaign featuring Paul McCartney, as well as two new variable annuity products.
Institutional Brokerage
During 2005, Fidelity continued to make significant investments in its institutional brokerage platforms on behalf of registered investment advisor and correspondent broker/dealer clients. National Financial, Fidelity's correspondent broker/dealer business, continued to focus on bringing integrated brokerage solutions to its broker/dealer clients so that they may drive growth, create efficiencies and manage risk in their businesses. As part of this effort, the company announced a strategic relationship with Envestnet Asset Management to offer broker/dealers a unified managed account platform that is integrated with its Streetscape® brokerage platform and should allow broker/dealers to develop their fee-based business, attract affluent investors and recruit top brokers. Additionally, National Financial conducted the "National Financial Broker Sentiment IndexSM," a first-of-its-kind measurement of U.S. brokers' career satisfaction, designed to assist broker/dealer clients with their efforts to attract and retain top brokers. National Financial also added new business from several major financial institutions throughout the year and completed the integration of broker/dealers from its acquisition of Fiserv Securities, Inc.
In 2005, Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group (FRIAG) continued to provide competitive resources to help independent fee-based advisors grow their business. FRIAG appointed a new president, William C. Carey, a 12-year Fidelity veteran who previously was president of Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company, the nation's largest provider of 401(k) plans. It also enhanced AdvisorCHANNEL to help streamline workflow, increase trading capabilities and improve operational efficiency through a single-sign-on, integrated platform. These improvements allow advisors to create a financial plan, analyze portfolios and request performance reports in a more seamless manner. FRIAG also significantly enhanced its online fixed-income platform by increasing inventory to more than 15,000 fixed-income securities, as well as providing access to sophisticated analytical tools and online order entry. The business also introduced Fidelity Trustee Referrals to help advisors select trust companies to serve as corporate trustees, and Fidelity Transitions, a comprehensive transition program to assist advisors build and realize the maximum value of their practice.
About Fidelity Brokerage Company
Fidelity Brokerage Company, one of the nation's leading brokerage firms with about $1.4 trillion in assets under administration, provides investment products, services and technology to 10.7 million retail accounts, nearly 3,000 registered investment advisors and more than 350 broker/dealers and their 65,000 brokers. As of December 31, 2005, it served 16.6 million client accounts and executed more than 250,000 daily average commissionable trades.
About Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of $2.4 trillion, including managed assets of more than $1.2 trillion as of December 31, 2005. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and human resources and benefits outsourcing services to more than 21 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.
1Margin trading entails greater risk and is not suitable for all investors. Please assess your financial circumstances and risk tolerance prior to trading on margin. If the market value of the securities in your margin account declines, you may be required to deposit more money or securities in order to maintain your line of credit. If you are unable to do so, Fidelity may be required to sell all or a portion of your pledged assets.
2Active Trader Services available to investors in households making at least 120+ stock, bond or options trades annually and maintaining $30,000 in assets across eligible Fidelity brokerage accounts. Certain features including streaming Level II quotes, streaming interactive charting, time and sales data and directed trading are available to those customers with annual household trading activity of 120 or more trades.
3Investors in households that place at least 120 stock, bond, or options trades in a rolling twelve-month period, plus $25,000 in assets across their eligible Fidelity brokerage accounts are eligible for Wealth-Lab Pro.
4The Fidelity Retirement Index is provided for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as the primary basis for investment and planning decisions and should not be considered as investment advice.
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System availability and response time may be subject to market conditions.
Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
100 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110
National Financial Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC |
