Fidelity

Fidelity Investments, the privately held mutual-fund giant, has quietly built one of the biggest brokerages on the planet. Founded and controlled by the Johnson Family since 1930, Fidelity has since led the way by sailing uncharted waters and taking risks that paid off. In fact, Fidelity is known for three things: Innovation, Diversification, and New Frontiers. Fidelity was the first to offer mutual funds with check-writing services, the first to offer hourly updates on the net value of a mutual fund, the first income-oriented mutual fund to invest in a mutual fund portfolio composed largely of common stocks, and first to offer same-day trading of fund shares. Fidelity diversified its business by taking advantage of technology and offering industry-leading products and services, thus making it one of the busiest, most successful online brokerages today.

Accessibility:

Fidelity Investments, with its headquarters situated in Boston, has 111 branches across the US. Each branch, or “Investor Center”, as they call it, is equipped with a Branch Manager, an Assistant Branch Manager, a Senior Executive, Private Access Relationship Managers, Private Access Client Services Specialists, Regional Consultants, Financial Planning Consultants, Investments Representatives, and Financial Representatives, all working in unison to meet a client’s every need. Fidelity also provides its services worldwide via several Investor Centers in several countries across Europe and Asia, as well as other authorized Fidelity Intermediaries. Fidelity responds to approximately 260,000 phone calls per business day from retail and institutional clients. Fidelity’s Websites handle an average of 1.6 million contracts a day.

Services:

Aside from the various Mutual Funds which Fidelity is extremely famous for, the company also offers a diverse range of other investments and plans for their clients. As most online brokerages do nowadays, Fidelity also offers Trading services, Fixed Income products, Retirement planning, Insurance, Financial and College planning, as well as advice and portfolio management. Investing in technology has made Fidelity one of the best online brokerages. They have excellent research and investment tools and calculators that are easy to use and definitely user-friendly. Moreover, Fidelity has over 40,000 employees committed to working with their clients.

Achievements:

2007 – Won Best Asian Pacific (ex Japan) Group at the Professional Adviser Awards
2006 – Fidelity was awarded a Gold Standard for Fund Management at the Gold Standard Awards.
July 11, 2006 – Awarded Best Premium Broker for the fourth year in a row by SmartMoney.com.
March 6, 2006 – Placed second at the Barron’s rankings.

Additional Information:

Fidelity Investments is a privately held company. To learn more about the company, visit their websites: www.fidelity.com and www.fidelity-international.com.