New Fidelity Survey Reveals RIA Firms Founded By Breakaway Brokers
Are Growing Faster Than Other RIA Firms

BOSTON, December 12, 2007 -- With brokers continuing to leave traditional brokerage firms for the independent advisory business model, Fidelity Investments today announced that it has expanded its program for breakaway brokers with the addition of new resources and support in three key areas: healthcare benefits, office infrastructure and regulatory compliance. This year, more than 50 brokers have chosen Fidelity to support their move to become Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs).

RIAs working with Fidelity will have access to affordable medical, dental and vision insurance through BenefitProtect and access to fully furnished offices or meeting rooms through The Regus Group. In addition, Fidelity has negotiated discounted rates with a new regulatory compliance provider, Advanced Regulatory Compliance, expanding existing third-party discounts in this area with providers that include Stark & Stark, ACA Compliance Group, MarketCounsel, and National Regulatory Services among others.

Fidelity's new relationships are important to helping advisors launch their new practices and provide a level of service that will enable them to grow their businesses, whether they are moving to an independent RIA, a broker-dealer with an RIA, or something in between. Fidelity together with its sister company National Financial, offers a complete range of solutions to advisors and brokers across a wide spectrum of business models.

"Making the transition to an RIA offers many rewards, but it can also be potentially disruptive to an advisor's client base as he or she builds out the infrastructure needed to establish and run a small business," said Scott Dell'Orfano, executive vice president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. "We can help make the transition easier for both advisors and their clients by providing access to resources and personalized support needed to quickly and efficiently establish a business, open an office and employ staff, while staying focused on client needs and service."

Expanded Program Addresses Critical Needs

Fidelity's new offerings provide advisors with access to products and services in the following three key areas:

•		Healthcare Benefits -- Through BenefitProtect, advisors have access to affordable insurance (individual and group plans), including medical, dental and vision. BenefitProtect also offers: one-on-one consultations with licensed insurance counselors, customized solutions with flexibility to elect portions of benefit plans vs. an entire package, and flexible deductibles and billing. We are expanding the Fidelity relationship with BenefitProtect, which is currently offered to brokers through National Financial.
•		Office Solutions -- Through The Regus Group, advisors have access to a network of fully furnished offices in 950 prestigious locations in 400 cities worldwide. Offices are also fully equipped with advanced telecom and IT services, access to meeting rooms and state-of-the art video conferencing, professional receptionists and on-site administrative support. Fidelity has negotiated special rates for clients that include the first month's rent free and 25 percent off Regus membership which provides access to any of their business lounges worldwide.
•		Regulatory Compliance -- Through Advanced Regulatory Compliance, advisors will be able to access professional consulting and services that will help them navigate through myriad compliance and regulatory issues, from filing business names to preparing regulatory paperwork and client agreements and policies. Fidelity has negotiated a 15 percent discount off all services and 20 percent off SEC mock audits. In addition to BenefitProtect, Regus and Advanced Regulatory Compliance, some of the other resources Fidelity makes available to brokers going independent include: • WealthCentral -- An integrated Web-based wealth management platform that will integrate advisors' most critical operational systems to address the time-consuming and costly challenge of technology implementation and provide advisors' with a single, integrated workstation that will allow them to effectively compete. WealthCentral will become available in late 2008. • Turnkey Managed Account Solutions -- Fidelity offers advisors three distinct approaches to access managed account products: Fidelity Separate Account Network®, Manager Resource Network and Manager Resource Wrap. • Marketing Consulting -- Personalized consultation and turnkey online tools for advisors to leverage Fidelity's marketing experience to create personalized collateral, including direct mail, brochures and advertisements. • IT Consulting -- Preferred pricing on hardware, software and technology support services. • Transition Planning -- Fidelity's online roadmap tool helps advisors understand the transition process, allowing them to build a comprehensive plan that includes a timeline for addressing critical areas associated with establishing a new RIA practice. • Rapid conversion team -- A focused, integrated team made up of professionals from Fidelity's sales, implementation, training, service, transaction processing and technology areas that helps new RIAs make a quick and smooth conversion onto the Fidelity platform.

Breakaway Founded Firms Are Growing Faster

According to new research by Fidelity, nearly half (43%) of all RIA firms with at least $25 million of assets under management have been founded or co-founded by breakaway brokers.¹ These firms have been operating for a shorter time than other RIA firms (average tenure of 11 years vs. 14), have greater assets under management ($243 million vs. $231 million) and have higher total revenues ($1.23 million vs. $1.1 million). Breakaway-founded firms also have realized an average annual growth rate in assets over the past three years of 42 percent versus 36 percent for other RIA firms. The greater growth rate may be attributable to the fact that the majority (60%) of breakaway-founded firms are focused on actively adding new clients, while most other firms (53%) have more established client bases. Breakaway-broker firms are also more likely to have ultra-high-net-worth retail clients. Eleven percent of breakaway-broker firms' individual clients have investable assets of $5 million or more, versus only 4% of other RIA firms' retail clients.

"The increase in new RIA practices over the past few years has been unprecedented, and we expect that trend to continue, especially given the success shown by breakaways," said Dell'Orfano. "Our focus is not only to help advisors get started, but also to provide them access to the ongoing technology, products and service they need to thrive and grow their business profitably over the long term."

About Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services

Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services is a leading provider of trading, custody and brokerage services to Registered Investment Advisors, Trust Institutions and Third Party Administrators. The company is able to leverage the capital, resources and expertise of the Fidelity organization, one of the world's largest financial services companies, on behalf of its clients. This includes access to a comprehensive set of products and services, innovative investment tools and research, an integrated brokerage and trust platform, and dedicated client service professionals -- all designed to help its clients thrive by growing their businesses, more effectively meeting customer needs, and enhancing operational efficiency and profitability. Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services custodies over $352 billion in assets on behalf of more than 3,800 clients, as of October 31, 2007. For more information about Fidelity's services, please visit http://fiws.fidelity.com.

About National Financial

National Financial, a Fidelity Investments company, offers Integrated Brokerage Solutions^® to over 330 clients ranging from retail broker/dealers to institutional investment firms. Collectively, National Financial's clients have more than 86,000 brokers. As of October 31, 2007, National Financial custodied $728 billion in assets representing more than 5.5 million customer accounts. Integrated Brokerage Solutions incorporates innovative technology, products and programs, supported by dedicated client service professionals and trusted industry partners. This holistic, solutions-oriented approach is designed to help client firms attain competitive advantage by driving growth, creating efficiency and managing risk. For more information about National Financial and Integrated Brokerage Solutions, please visit www.nationalfinancial.com.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of more than $3.4 trillion, including managed assets of $1.6 trillion as of October 31, 2007. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, and human resources and benefits outsourcing services to 24 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, the largest mutual fund supermarket and a leading online brokerage firm. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.

¹These are results from an RIA marketplace representative study not identifying Fidelity as the sponsor. The survey was conducted on the phone between May 29, and July 6, 2007 with firms representative of the RIA Marketplace and received completed responses from 436 RIA firms, each with at least $25 million in total assets under management, and not necessarily clients. Data are representative of the RIA marketplace with at least $25 million in total assets under management, with a margin of error of +/-5%.

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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.

The third-party service providers listed are independent companies and are not affiliated with Fidelity Investments. Listing them does not suggest a recommendation or endorsement by Fidelity.

BenefitProtect, The Regus Group and Advanced Regulatory Compliance are independent companies and are not affiliated with Fidelity Investments