Fidelity Investments surges past $15 trillion, on its way to $16 trillion
after its CEO made one big, contrarian bet and two smaller plays that have the giant hopping
The Boston company grew $800 billion per quarter on average through nine months, and just keeps hiring to ‘deepen relationships,’ with crypto and digital engagement giving it an edge.
Fidelity Investments is nearing $16 trillion in total assets by year-end, just three years after taking a stunning contrarian gamble that seems to be paying off big.
The Boston broker-dealer had $9.2 trillion of administered assets and $5.8 trillion in discretionary assets, or $15 trillion total, as of Sept. 30. It began the year at $12.6 trillion, a $2.4 trillion leap or about $800 billion a quarter on average.
Fidelity offered generalities to explain its growth trajectory.
Hiring spree
Fidelity’s growth – up 30% on an annual basis – was preceded by one head-swiveling contrarian move – Johnson ratcheted up staff at a time of job cuts in the industry.
Between 2020 and 2023, Fidelity grew its headcount from 40,000 to 74,000 — a net of 12.5%, 27%, 19%, and 8.9%, each year, respectively. See: Fidelity will hire 4,000 staff in first half — a staggering number but a tapering off from ‘unprecedented’ rate in 2021-2022 that catapulted it to 68,000 employees
“Wow, that is a crazy lot of people!” said Chip Roame, managing principal of Tiburon Strategic Advisors, in a previous RIABiz email interview. See: Fidelity’s strategy to own the financial advice business by owning ‘a crazy lot of people’ is heading for 28,000 hires in two years
Though Fidelity cautioned that hiring was set to tail off in 2024, it ballooned yet again – a net 2,000 staff were onboarded between January and September this year, according to the company. That’s up 2.7%, year-over-year, and more may be in process.
“Regarding hiring, we’re unable to share a projected year-end headcount … [but] our global headcount as of Sept. 30, 2024 was more than 76,000,” a spokesperson said.
Charles Schwab Corp., with $9.92 trillion of assets under administration, employs just 32,000.
Schwab, which manages $5.3 trillion of retail assets and $4.6 trillion of RIA assets, began the year with $8.5 trillion
https://riabiz.com/a/2024/11/9/fidelity-investments-surges-past-15-trillion-on-its-way-to-16-trillion-after-its-ceo-made-one-big-contrarian-bet-and-two-smaller-plays-that-have-the-giant-hopping
