Fidelity Investments (United States)

Originally known as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, Fidelity Investments is a Boston, Massachusetts-based American international financial services firm. The corporation was founded in 1946 and, as of December 2021, had $11.8 trillion in assets under administration, making it one of the largest asset managers in the world with $4.5 trillion in assets under management. Fidelity Investments maintains a vast family of mutual funds, runs a brokerage business, and offers fund distribution, investment counseling, retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, life insurance, and index funds.

It has been said that a private venture capital company, F-Prime Capital Partners, run on behalf of the owners and other important executives of Fidelity Investments, competes directly with those funds. In certain instances, according to a 2016 Reuters investigation, F-Prime Capital Partners was able to make investments for a fraction of the cost of Fidelity Investments. The investments made by F-Prime Capital Partners prevent Fidelity from making the same initial investments due to SEC requirements. According to the research, this rivalry compels Fidelity to invest later and at far greater costs than F-Prime Capital Partners, which reduces returns for Fidelity fund shareholders.

Although the method is lawful, according to experts in corporate governance, it clearly creates a conflict of interest for the company. According to spokespeople at Fidelity, they are abiding by all rules and laws. Six of the ten F-Prime Capital companies where Fidelity Investments became one of the biggest investors after the start-up companies went public are documented in the same Reuters study. Legal and academic authorities opined that significant investments made by Fidelity mutual funds with their market-moving purchasing power may be seen as supporting the valuations of the F-Prime Capital investments to the advantage of Fidelity insiders. In regards to this portion of the investigation, Fidelity declined to comment.

Founded: 1946

Revenue: US$24 billion (2021)

AUM: US$4.5 trillion (Dec 2021)

Website: https://www.fidelity.com/

Phone: +1 800-544-2769

Ranking: 5 of the 10 Top Asset Management Firms