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Client Assets Reach Record $709 Billion;
Company Adds 17 New Clients and Strengthens Client Support Model
BOSTON, March 6, 2008 -- National Financial®, a Fidelity Investments company and leading provider of Integrated Brokerage Solutions® to over 330 broker/dealer firms representing 85,000 brokers and advisors, today announced that it ended 2007 with a record $709 billion in total client assets custodied, an increase of 9 percent from 2006. National Financial also reported a 13 percent increase in commissionable trades per day from 166,998 in 2006 to 188,000 in 2007.
Assets in National Financial's Managed Account Solutions® program grew significantly, from $350 million to $7.4 billion at year end, a 21-fold increase. As a single, integrated offering, Managed Account Solutions gives brokers and advisors the flexibility to build tailored portfolios based on the specific needs of their clients.
"Despite a challenging market environment in 2007, many of our clients continued to realize solid growth -- results that clearly drove our success," said Norman R. Malo, president and chief executive officer of National Financial. "Increasingly, broker/dealer firms, such as the 17 that joined us last year, are turning to National Financial to provide services beyond traditional clearing and execution. This includes helping them improve operational efficiencies using technologies such as imaging, while also providing resources to support their broker recruiting and development efforts -- areas in which we are making significant investments."
Broker/Dealer Client Base Continues to Grow
National Financial formed new relationships with 17 broker/dealer firms across the independent, bank and institutional business segments in 2007. New clients include The Bancorp Bank, Hanson McClain, Joseph Stevens & Company, Inc. and Pacific West Securities, Inc.
Relationship Management, Product Specialist Teams Strengthened
In 2007, National Financial continued to expand its client support teams, including the addition of 10 new relationship managers. With these appointments, the company now has one of the clearing industry's largest dedicated relationship management teams with 65 professionals. National Financial also added 12 new product service professionals, providing clients with guidance across all National Financial products on topics ranging from features and functions to individual transaction support. The expansion of these teams further demonstrates the company's focus and commitment to working one-on-one with broker/dealer clients to understand the unique business challenges and meet their needs.
"Unlike many of our competitors, we have made significant investments in building dedicated teams whose focus is on spending the time needed to understand virtually every aspect of our clients' businesses and then delivering strategic plans that can help them achieve their goals," said Malo. "The addition of new relationship management and product professionals is even more important as we add new clients and they increasingly look to us to help them fine-tune their brokerage operations."
Expanded Alliance Program Provides Broker/Dealers Best-in-Class Solutions
National Financial continued to broaden the resources available to clients through its Alliance Program with the addition of 15 new firms in 2007. The most recent firms to join the program include:
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AdvisorMail (LiveOffice): Provides an archiving and compliance system for e-mail and instant messages (IM) that helps firms meet regulatory and corporate requirements for the proper handling of electronic communications; requires no upfront investment in hardware or software.
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Ancerno: Offers trade cost analysis technology and consulting to help investors pursue best execution in order to help improve investment performance.
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Jeremiah Associates: Provides consulting, content development and training services to clients throughout the global financial services community, and compliance outsourcing to firms seeking best practices and assistance in meeting regulatory requirements.
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Nominodata LLC: Checkforrisk, Nominodata's Internet-based anti-money laundering search engine, targets "know your customer" and "enhanced due diligence" data to satisfy the PATRIOT Act and global regulatory requirements.
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PriceMetrix Inc.: Delivers a patented combination of business intelligence reports, practice management tools and expert services specifically designed to enable financial advisors, at all levels, to proactively identify and close client, product and pricing opportunities that generate revenue and enhance "book" value.
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TPG Software, Inc.: Provides financial software solutions, support and client services for trade activity, risk management, and complex investment/liability/derivative accounting, analysis and regulatory compliance.
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Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc.: Through its 37 analysts, the firm provides investment research in key growth sectors of the economy including technology, healthcare, consumer, industrial growth, and Internet, media and telecom.
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The program offers clients access to companies with a wide variety of best-in-class offerings in wealth management solutions, investment analysis, research and performance measurement tools, electronic trading platforms, market data services, and reporting and compliance tools.
"As a result of our continued growth, we are able to build additional scale that is allowing us to enhance our own efficiencies, which in turn is enabling us to invest back into the business for the benefit of our clients," said Malo. "National Financial continues to make significant investments in building the strongest, broadest platform in the industry, providing our clients access to the resources they need to help drive cost-efficient growth in their firms."
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 85,000 brokers. As of December 31, 2007, National Financial custodied $709 billion in assets, representing 5.5 million 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 $3.3 trillion, including managed assets of $1.5 trillion as of January 31, 2008. 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.
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