Tool Helps RIAs Benchmark Their Use of Technology
And Its Potential Impact on Their Financial Performance

BOSTON, April 2, 2009 -- Fidelity Investments^® (Fidelity) today announced the launch of its Technology Benchmark Evaluator, a new online tool designed to help Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) benchmark their use and management of technology against some of the top-performing firms in the industry. The tool's data comes from a recently released study ¹, Integrating Technology Best Practices in Your Business: Opportunities for RIA Firms, 2008, conducted on Fidelity's behalf by Moss Adams LLP.²

By entering firm-specific information in the tool, such as assets under management, size of staff, level of technology integration and IT spending data, advisors receive a detailed report designed to help them better understand the relationship between their use of technology and the financial performance of their firms.

"Asset values have declined, yet advisors' primary expenses -- people and technology -- remain largely fixed, likely cutting into their profit margins," said Edward O'Brien, senior vice president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services^®. "As a result, enhancing profitability through greater efficiencies has become critical. Our new tool provides advisors with insights and ideas into how they can achieve greater efficiencies through the management of technology."

According to the Fidelity survey conducted by Moss Adams, RIA firms of all sizes say that technology is one of the top three things they'd like to change about their business. Eighty-six percent of RIA firms indicate that technology is either a key factor affecting the success of their business or is critical to their success.

To benchmark an RIA firm's overall technology effectiveness against the top-performing firms surveyed, the Fidelity tool, which is available at http://benchmark.fidelity.com, gathers specific information in four areas:

•		Financials: Advisors provide information about their revenue, assets under management, profit margin, number of professionals in their firms, and total staff.
•		Technology Utilization: Advisors are asked to characterize to what extent they deploy key hardware and software systems within their firms.
•		Integration: Advisors identify the functions performed in their practices and the corresponding level of integration -- either using file transfers or real-time data sharing.
•		Technology Spend: Advisors estimate their expenses in areas including software, hardware, IT-related consulting or outsourcing, salaries for IT staff, and technology training.

Once all data have been provided, the tool will produce a detailed report that shows how the RIA firm compares to top-performing firms surveyed across all four categories. The report also will provide advisors some technology best practices from top-performing firms surveyed. For example, many top-performing firms:

•		Have a culture that more readily embraces technology -- They frequently indicate that technology is one of the key factors impacting the success of their businesses.
•		Stay abreast of emerging trends in technology -- They are more likely to plan to install or upgrade their current systems in the next two years.
•		Understand the link between technology and employee satisfaction -- They are often likely to consider employee satisfaction in their evaluation of new technology.
•		Place more value on the benefits of integration -- They have integrated more of their front-end systems with their back-office systems.

The Benefits of Technology Integration

In today's environment, integration can play a significant role in helping RIAs improve efficiencies and financial performance. The Fidelity survey shows that 50 percent of advisors are working to integrate systems, while another 18 percent attempted to do so at some point in their firms' history.

Advisors understand the promise that integration holds. According to the Fidelity survey, they see the No. 1 benefit of integration as greater operational efficiencies, and nearly two-thirds indicate that a single, integrated platform would be valuable to their business. Earlier this year, Fidelity began rolling out Fidelity WealthCentral^® to its RIA clients. This first-of-its-kind platform is designed to help advisors drive greater practice efficiencies by integrating key applications including portfolio management, customer relationship management (CRM), financial planning, and trading into a single Web-based offering. Advisors have the option of full integration or selecting only those capabilities that best meet their specific practice needs.

"In times like these, with margins under substantial pressure, advisors need all the time they can get to spend on profitably growing their practices," said O'Brien. "By choosing the right applications and integrating them in a way that makes sense for their firms, technology can help advisors boost efficiencies and improve the bottom line. A case in point is that advisors in our survey that integrated core technology applications made 36 percent higher revenue per professional, compared to those firms that have not integrated."

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 more than $290 billion in assets on behalf of over 3,500 clients, as of December 31, 2008. For more information about Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, please visit http://fiws.fidelity.com.

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 nearly $1.2 trillion as of February 28, 2009. 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 Fidelity.com.

¹ Fielding of the survey took place from February 25 to April 9, 2008 and draws on data submitted by hundreds of financial advisory firms who responded to the 2008 Moss Adams Financial Performance Study of Advisory Firms. From this sample of firms, 470 met our criteria for a complete and valid survey submission, including the minimum requirements of at least one year in business, $50,000 in annual gross revenue, operating as solely or primarily as an RIA and reporting assets under management (AUM) for 2005 to 2007.

² Moss Adams LLP, the 11th largest accounting and consulting firm in the United States, provides accounting, tax, and consulting services to public, private, and nonprofit enterprises in many different industries. Moss Adams is an independent company and not affiliated with Fidelity Investments.

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Moss Adams is an independent company and not affiliated with Fidelity Investments.

Clearing, custody, or other brokerage services may be provided by National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC.