Fidelity Investments Advances Personal Investing On the Web.BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1999--Company Reports Tremendous Growth in 1998, Announces New Tools to Provide Investors Greater Convenience and Control of Personal Finances Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments is a group of privately held companies in the financial services industry. It is made up by two independent but closely cooperating companies, Fidelity Management and Research Corporation (FMR Co. today announced that it has reached 3 million online accounts, more than triple the number of online accounts it had as of the end of 1997. This figure represents approximately 2 million Personal Investing accounts and 1 million accounts through employer-sponsored retirement plans. Additionally, Personal Investing assets grew from $44 billion to $128 billion during the 12 months ending November 30, 1998 and 70 percent of Fidelity's commissionable trades are currently made via the Web, compared to just seven percent in January 1997. Moreover, the number of new accounts generated via the Web doubled in 1998. "As more investors choose the Web to conduct their personal finances, Fidelity continues to advance its Web channel to provide the convenience and control that customers demand," said Paul Ciriello, president of Fidelity Interactive Company. "Fidelity wants to meet investors' needs by developing the destination for personal investing online Investing online has become the norm for investors and traders over the past decade with many, if not all brokers now offering online services with unique trading platforms. In the past, investors had to call up their brokers and place an order on the phone. - whether they want to place trades, research college savings strategies or plan for retirement." "Fidelity experienced remarkable growth, with 800,000 retirement plan participants Plan participants Employees or other beneficiaries who are eligible to receive benefits from a company's employee benefit plan. in 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans turning to the Web in 1998," said Peter J. Smail, president of Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company, the nation's number one provider of 401(k) plans. "For the first time, more investors now use the Web to monitor and manage their workplace savings plans than speak to a representative over the phone." These investors made more than 11 million Internet log-ins last year to their workplace retirement plans, with the Internet channel accounting for 25 percent of all account contacts in December. Continuing its efforts to provide greater value, ease-of-use and convenience, Fidelity has announced three new Internet services: Fidelity BillPaySM, a convenient Web bill payment service; advanced online charting; and online access to variable annuity Variable Annuity An insurance contract in which, at the end of the accumulation stage, the insurance company guarantees a minimum payment. The remaining income payments can vary depending on the performance of the managed portfolio. balances and positions. Fidelity BillPay Now Delivers Web Convenience to Customers Fidelity BillPay enables Ultra Service Account(R) customers with non-retirement brokerage accounts with at least $10,000 in assets to schedule bill payments to nearly any individual or business in the United States 24-hours a day, seven days a week, via touch-tone telephone and the Internet. These payments include recurring, fixed amount expenses, such as rent or mortgage payments, and variable expenses such as credit card bills, which are all recorded on customers' monthly account statements.(1) Fidelity offers BillPay to new customers at no charge for the first three months. Thereafter, the charge will be $4.95 per month for customers with assets above $100,000 and $9.95 per month for all other customers.(2) Customers can access a Fidelity BillPay demo and download an enrollment application at www.fidelity.com. "Fidelity's site delivers the latest products and services to help investors with both their basic and more complex personal finances," Ciriello said. "Fidelity's BillPay service provides a convenient way for customers to fulfill an essential task while our new charting capabilities offer sophisticated analysis." Improved Charting Capability Brings More Information to Customers Researching Securities The integration of BigCharts, an easy-to-use online charting tool, provides customers with improved capability to chart different time ranges and frequencies, compare up to 10 symbols on a single chart and track more securities than ever before. Fidelity customers can access charts on more than 52,000 symbols covering all NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange , NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on and AMEX AMEX See: American Stock Exchange stocks, all NASDAQ quoted mutual funds (8,300+) and major U.S. financial indexes (400+). They can also chart more than 30 popular Technical Indicators including Stochastics, Relative Strength Index The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a financial technical analysis oscillator showing price strength by comparing upward and downward close-to-close movements. The RSI is popular because it is relatively easy to interpret. It was developed by J. , Bollinger Bands Bollinger Bands Plus or minus two standard deviations where the standard deviations are calculated historically in a moving window estimation. Hence, the bands will widen if the most recent data is more volatile. , Moving Average Convergence/Divergence, Price Channels, Money Flow, On Balance Volume and Volume by Price. "These new technologies, including new technical analysis tools, are an integral part of the architectural framework to take Fidelity's online offerings to the next level," said Ciriello. "Fidelity customers don't need to wade through the overload of financial information on the Internet to track, manage and research their investments regularly. They can make one stop to Fidelity's site for all of the reliable research tools they need to make informed investment decisions." Annuity Values Integrated with Customers' Online Accounts Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company(3) now provides variable annuity customers with 24-hour access to their balances over the Internet or through Fidelity's AnnuityLink(SM) automated telephone system. A single Fidelity Personal Identification Number (PIN) permits access to both services. For the first time, Fidelity's customers are able to view the value of their annuities along with other accounts, such as mutual fund and brokerage accounts, through the "My Portfolio" portion of Fidelity's Web site. "We're taking Fidelity's service commitment to the next step by integrating access to annuity contract Annuity Contract The written agreement between an insurance company and a customer outlining each party's obligations in an annuity coverage agreement. This document will include the specific details of the contract, such as the structure of the annuity (variable or fixed), any balances with customers' mutual fund and brokerage accounts," said Farrell J. Dolan, senior vice president, Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. "This reflects our ongoing plan to serve customers by whichever avenue of access best fits their personal needs - Web, phone or in-person." Fidelity Investments is the nation's largest mutual fund company and a leading provider of financial services. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement, brokerage and shareholder services directly to individuals and institutions, and through financial intermediaries Financial intermediaries institution that provide the market function of matching borrowers and lenders or traders. . The firm also is the No. 1 provider of 401(k) retirement savings plans, the second largest discount brokerage firm discount brokerage firm A brokerage firm that discounts commissions for individuals to trade securities. Most discount brokerage firms offer limited advice but reduce their fees by 50% or more compared with full-service brokerage firms. and the third largest provider of 403(b) retirement plans for not-for-profit institutions in the United States. At November 30, 1998, Fidelity had total managed assets of $715.9 billion. Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc., Member NYSE, SIPC (Simply Interactive PC) An earlier umbrella term from Microsoft and Intel for a PC that works like a home appliance. For example, it has a sealed case, uses external connectors for expansion and boots in just a couple of seconds. , 82 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc. (1) Fidelity will not make payments of alimony alimony, in law, allowance for support that an individual pays to his or her former spouse, usually as part of a divorce settlement. It is based on the common law right of a wife to be supported by her husband, but in the United States, the Supreme Court in 1979 , child-support, insurance, taxes or other governmental fees or court-directed payments. (2) Account reviews will occur monthly at month end to determine fee level for the next month. The $100,000 threshold will be determined monthly by aggregating all assets in retail accounts which list the same Social Security number and are maintained by Fidelity Services Company, Inc. or Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc. (excluding assets maintained on behalf of any divisions of Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc., such as 401(k) or 403(b) plan assets); or which are held in Portfolio Advisory Services advisory services advisory services provided to the public, in their capacity as owners and managers of animals, are an important part of veterinary science. They may be provided by government bureaux, by commercial companies who deal in pharmaceuticals or animals or animal or Managed Allocation Services accounts. Fidelity may include other assets other assets Assets of relatively small value. For financial reporting purposes, firms frequently combine small assets into a single category rather than listing each item separately. at its discretion. (3) In New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Empire Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion