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Fidelity Investments Yields the Small 401(k) Plan Market to Its RIAs

"Fidelity Investments, the powerhouse 401(k) provider, will no longer compete with RIAs in the small and midsize 401(k) plan arena, says Ted Madden, senior vice president, sales for Fidelity. This is a major move that shows RIAs have become a major force in that arena, industry leaders say.... The actions of Fidelity make sense and deserve applause but they are likely the result of Fidelity finding it more difficult to beat RIAs -- making the choice to join them easier, according to Doug Dannemiller, principal of Duxbury, Mass.-based Dannemiller Analytics & Consulting LLC."

Fidelity Investments Annual Report on State of 401(k) Industry (PDF)

Excerpt: Building Futures is Fidelity Investments' annual report on the state of the 401(k) industry. Volume VIII provides a comprehensive analysis of over 10 million participants in nearly 13,000 corporate defined contribution (DC) plans administered by Fidelity at the end of 2006, representing $674 billion in assets. The full report will be published this fall.

Comments of Fidelity Investments to SEC on Duties of Brokers, Dealers and Investment Advisers (PDF)

"If the Commission believes that rulemaking in this area is necessary, Fidelity supports a uniform fiduciary duty that would require broker-dealers and investment advisers to act in the best interest of retail customers when offering personalized investment advice about securities to such retail customers.... We believe that the existing principles-based fiduciary duty under the Advisers Act has worked well for investment advisers and their clients and we see no reason to modify this well functioning model."

Fidelity Investments Is Suddenly Fending Off a Fresh Wave of AI Suitors for Its Vast Recordkeeping Data Trove

"Money can't buy petabytes of client data -- at least at Fidelity Investments, which owns eight of them, and claims it's swatting back offers from corporate giants and start-ups alike to buy its records.... The Boston broker-dealer and record-keeper, with roughly $3.2 trillion in pension assets, is playing hard to get -- or at least coy -- with access to raw data in its digital vaults going back decades[.]"

Fidelity Investments Debuts Bitcoin Trades

"Fidelity Investments is plunging deeper into the crypto black hole, but a bright light may be at the end of the tunnel -- a chance to steamroll all other crypto brands and dominate the industry. The $9.9-trillion Boston firm is executing its first Bitcoin retail trades as crypto players large and small disintegrate, Capitol Hill lawmakers decry its participation and tokens plummet in value."

Fidelity Investments Wins Huge in the 'Biggest 401(k) Case in Decades'

"This case validates the DOL's message that employers need to look more carefully at fees, says Fred Reish, an attorney with Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.... Even though Fidelity is off the hook in this case for fees, Reish questions whether recordkeepers could get fined for excessive fees in the future.... But in this ABB case, the court didn't question Fidelity for its recordkeeping fees. Instead, the court determined that ABB failed to complete its due diligence for the recordkeeping fees paid to Fidelity. In addition, ABB didn't benchmark its recordkeeping fees." [Tussey v. ABB, Inc., No. 12-2056 (8th Cir. Mar. 19, 2014)]

Fidelity Investments Changes How It Manages Its $170 Billion of Target Date Funds

"Fidelity explains the surprising shift in its long-held conservative allocation by saying it reflects deep research into the reams of data at its fingertips -- not only as the biggest player in target date funds with $175 billion of assets but also as the 401(k) king. This includes findings that investors have more of a stomach for risk than realized based on 2008 behaviors and that investors start investing sooner and live longer than previously thought."

How Exactly Fidelity Investments Extracted Itself from a Legal and HR Quagmire

"[T]he lingering conflict here is that Fidelity is making some major league changes in how it manages the 401(k) plan of its employees. But it refuses to admit to an iota of wrongdoing.... [A] deeper look at true economic value of this deal suggests it could increase the nest eggs of employees by hundreds of millions over time as Fidelity eats more plan costs and goes bigger on its matching contributions."

What to Make of DOL's Backtrack After John Kerry, Fidelity Investments and the Rest of the Riled 401(k) Industry Cried Foul

"It all came down to the Department of Labor's willfulness versus the full force and fury of the 401(k) industry -- and some its powerful allies -- and guess who won? (Hint: The winners are at a higher pay scale and deal with real investors.) In May, the 401(k) industry was angered after its members believe they were blindsided by an eleventh-hour move by the DOL requesting that some self-directed brokerage accounts receive the same level of monitoring as other investments in 401(k) plans.... Now, it appears that the DOL has come around to the viewpoint of these record keepers and discount brokers. The rule maker for 401(k) plans announced on Monday that it will resume the policy position of allowing plan participants to pick and choose their own investments at their own peril and not require plan sponsors to monitor them in the same way as they would other investments."

Here's What Could Go Wrong with Fidelity Investments Adding Bitcoin to Your 401(k)

"[If] offering people the ability to invest in crypto boosts overall retirement savings, that's good.... Cryptocurrency isn't ready for prime time. It's unregulated. It doesn't provide protection for consumers. Consumer disclosure rules and regulations are limited or nonexistent.... The Consumers have reported losing more than $80 million to cryptocurrency investment scams[.]"