"Fidelity Investments Unveils New Suite of Brokerage Offerings"
May 26, 1999
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE) State-Of-The-Art Web, Wireless and Phone Technology
Drives Business Into The 21st Century
Continuing to set new standards for its retail brokerage business,
Fidelity Investments(R) today previewed one of the industry's most
comprehensive suites of products and services that leverage
cutting-edge web, wireless and phone technology to help investors
responsibly manage their portfolios in today's dynamic investing
environment.
These new offerings, which include Fidelity's web-based Active Trader
WebStation, InstantBroker(sm) wireless applications(1) via the Palm
VII(tm) organizer, and full natural language speech recognition
through the company's automated phone system, were unveiled at a
press event held at the Hilton New York and Towers in New York City.
"Investors are busier than ever and are demanding more reliable,
convenient and accessible tools to help them make timely, informed
investment decisions," said Stephen Cone, president, Customer
Marketing and Development, Fidelity Investments. "With these latest
offerings, Fidelity is driving its brokerage business into the 21st
century by leveraging the best that technology has to offer to
provide our customers greater choice and control over their
investment portfolios."
Leading With The Web
In the online arena, Fidelity announced its new Active Trader
WebStation. Available in June, this premier Web site -
www.activetrader.fidelity.com - will empower active traders(2) with a
fast and powerful Web system that helps them monitor and manage
their investments more quickly and conveniently than ever before.
Leading With Wireless Communications
This summer, Fidelity plans to begin delivering its InstantBroker(sm)
two-way wireless trading application and personalized investment
information via the next generation in wireless technology - the Palm
VII organizer. The Palm VII is an all-in-one, wireless handheld solution
from Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com company.
Leading With Full Speech Recognition
In addition, Fidelity customers will have access to full, natural
language speech recognition capabilities - the most comprehensive in
the financial services industry in terms of features and capacity -
through the company's automated phone system. This latest
enhancement to Fidelity's phone system recognizes all US English
dialects and more than 24 billion valid phrases and is scheduled to be
available to all customers starting in July.
Responsible Investing With Enhanced Technology
As part of its suite of new offerings, Fidelity is introducing enhanced,
user-friendly third-party research, analysis and reporting tools that
leverage the latest technology to help investors make smarter
investment decisions.
Leading the way in customer convenience are Fidelity's Online
Services available at www.fidelity.com. Through Online Services,
customers can view their accounts, and beginning this month, will be
able to update their account information directly online.
In July, Fidelity will be complementing its current third-party, research
offerings with three new reports - Market Guide Company Profile,
Market Guide Industry Snapshot and First Call Earnings Estimates
through www.fidelity.com.
Following in July, the company plans to provide personalized,
account-specific performance information on the Web to select
brokerage clients(3) through Fidelity's Quarterly Performance Report.
In addition, beginning in mid-summer Fidelity will be introducing
XpressAlerts(sm), another new Web-based service available to select
customers(4). Through XpressAlerts, customers can select alert
options which employ "push" technology to proactively deliver timely
information via e-mail.
Planning for retirement will be a little easier with Fidelity's new
web-based investment tool currently in development. This latest
offering, scheduled to be available at www.fidelity.com, will help
customers develop an investment strategy and model portfolio of
mutual funds for their retirement accounts. Future enhancements will
expand the tool beyond retirement planning.
"In a recent survey sponsored by Fidelity, investors claimed that the
ideal brokerage firm for the 21st century provides access to targeted
information, tools and services to help them make smart business
decisions. " Cone said. "With our extensive collection of new
brokerage offerings, we believe Fidelity is delivering what investors
said they wanted from their brokerage firm as they head into the next
millennium."
Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc. offers its customers access to a full
range of securities, IPOs and other public offerings; FundsNetwork(R)
with access to more than 3,400 mutual funds; substantial commission
savings as compared with full-service brokers; low margin rates;
access to extensive independent research; a variety of cash
management services and consolidated statement reporting. The
recently announced Fidelity American Express Gold Card will be
available to customers beginning in June.
Fidelity Investments is the nation's leading 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. 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 April 30, 1999, Fidelity had total managed assets of $831.4
billion.
Note to editors: please call Fidelity's Corporate Communications
department at (617) 563-5800 to obtain fact sheets with further
information on the new products or services referenced in this news
release, as well as to request interviews with Fidelity Brokerage
Services, Inc. representatives.
Palm Computing, 3Com, Market Guide, First Call and American Express
are independent organizations and are not affiliated with Fidelity
Investments. 3Com, the 3Com logo and Palm Computing are registered
trademarks and Palm VII is a trademark of 3Com Corporation or its
subsidiaries.
Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc. Member NYSE, SIPC. 100 Summer
Street, Boston, MA 02110
For more complete information on any Fidelity fund, including charges
and expenses, call 1(800)544-8888, write or download one at
fidelity.com. Please read it carefully before you invest or send money.
Please see fidelity.com for complete details on any product or service
available through Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc.
Response time may be delayed based on market volatility, volume or
system capacity.
(1) InstantBroker is available to customers who make at least 36
stock, fixed income or option trades per year (subject to a $20,000
account minimum) or maintain at least $100,000 in certain Fidelity
accounts. Certain limitations apply. Eligible Fidelity customers who
subscribe to a certain paging service and purchase or rent a
particular two-way pager can place eligible orders for stock directly
through their pager. Response time may be delayed by market
volatility, volume or system capacity. Visit www.fidelity.com for
complete details, including eligibility.
(2) Active traders refers to customers whose accounts qualify for
Active Trader or Gold Circle pricing. To qualify, customers must make
at least 36 or 72 stock, bond or options trades per year, respectively,
and maintain a minimum account balance of $20,000. Fidelity
Brokerage Services, Inc. Member NYSE, SIPC.
(3) Fidelity will gradually roll out performance reporting to customers
who maintain a $500,000 or more brokerage account balance. The
$500,000 threshold will be determined monthly by aggregating all
assets in retail accounts which list the same Social Security number
and are maintained by Fidelity Service Company, Inc. or Fidelity
Brokerage Services, Inc. (excluding assets maintained on behalf of
any divisions of Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company,
such as 401(k) or 403(b) plan assets) or are held in Portfolio Advisory
Services or Managed Allocation Service accounts. Fidelity may include
other assets at our discretion.
(4) XpressAlerts will be available to Fidelity customers with $100,000
in assets with Fidelity. The $100,00 will be determined monthly by
aggregating all assets in retail accounts which list the same Social
Security number and are maintained by Fidelity Service Company, Inc.
or Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc. (excluding assets maintained on
behalf of any divisions of Fidelity Investments Institutional Services
Company, such as 401(k) or 403(b) plan assets) or are held in
Portfolio Advisory Services or Managed Allocation Service accounts.
Fidelity may include other assets at the company's discretion.
<<Business Wire, 05-25-99, 12:19 Eastern>>
CONTACT: Fidelity Investments | Corporate Communications | (617)
563-5800 |
