Fidelity expands institutional retirement business to Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 1996-- Fidelity Investments today announced it has expanded its defined contribution retirement business globally, initially by focusing on emerging institutional retirement markets in Canada, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, and by leveraging Fidelity's resources in these countries and its successful 401(k) retirement plans and services business in the United States.

Fidelity said companies and workers in Canada and the U.K. are beginning to face many of the same retirement savings issues that American workers began to realize several years ago. Like their American counterparts, Canadians and Britons are now taking greater personal interest in planning for their retirements through evolving company-sponsored defined contribution plans.

Fidelity established its international focus last fall within Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company, the largest provider of 401(k) plans and services in the U.S. In 1995, Fidelity began building a technology-based infrastructure and designing defined contribution products and services in Toronto and London for institutional clients in Canada and Great Britain.

Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services - International will offer investment management, record-keeping services, and plan participant communication and education. Today, Fidelity serves about 3.7 million plan participants at about 5,700 companies in the U.S. and manages $108 billion in assets. It will leverage Fidelity's nearly 400 investment professionals around the world, including about 160 analysts who cover more than 4,000 companies.

"Our successful position in the defined contribution business in the U.S., combined with our existing investment management operations in Canada and the United Kingdom, uniquely position Fidelity to immediately offer retirement plans and services to companies located in these countries," said Robert L. Reynolds, president of Fidelity Investments Institutional Retirement Group. "These countries are about to experience rapid growth in defined contribution plans as workers take a growing personal interest in planning and saving for their retirements."

Fidelity also said it recently added PPG Canada, Inc., based in Toronto, to its list of Canadian clients for group retirement savings plans and services. For PPG Canada, Fidelity will provide investment management, recordkeeping and employee communication services for the company's 2,300 workers in nine locations throughout Canada.

Fidelity's first Canadian client was Campbell's Soup, which it began to service in October 1995. Today in Canada, Fidelity has six group retirement clients which employ more than 3,300 workers who participate in the plans. Other clients include AMICO, Duty Free Stores, Informix and Logisil.

In the U.K., Fidelity began offering defined contribution plan services about two years ago and currently provides services to British Petroleum and British Broadcasting Corporation.

"Another compelling factor in providing defined contribution products and services internationally is the desire of many U.S. multi-national clients who are beginning to play a more active role in managing and coordinating their worldwide pension programs," said Brian Storms, managing director, Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services - International. "We are working with a number of our U.S.-based clients who have operations in these countries and in other parts of the world about our new plans and services.

"Additionally, there have been recent governmental actions in the U.K., Hong Kong and in other countries that are driving local companies to re-examine their current pension programs and consider new defined contribution plans," Storms said.

Fidelity formalized its defined contribution business in the U.S. in 1989 to provide a full range of products and services for 401(k) retirement plans. Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company focuses exclusively on serving the growing number of U.S. companies offering defined contribution programs and has become the nation's No. 1 provider of 401(k) retirement plans services.

Fidelity Investments is the nation's largest mutual fund company and one of the leading providers of financial services. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement, brokerage and shareholder services directly to individuals and institutions, and through financial intermediaries. The firm also is the No. 1 provider of 401(k) retirement savings plans, the second largest discount brokerage firm and the third largest provider of 403(b) retirement plans for not-for-profit institutions in the United States. At May 31, 1996, Fidelity had total managed assets of $453.0 billion. For more complete information on Fidelity funds, including fees and expenses, please call for a free prospectus. Read it carefully before you invest or send money. Fidelity Distributors Corporation, 82 Devonshire, Boston, MA 02109.

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CONTACT: Fidelity Investments

Teri Kilduff, 617/563-5800