Fidelity Investments had defined-contribution sales commitments of about $25.2 billion in assets under administration for the first half of the year, the company announced Tuesday. This is a jump of 36% over last year's sales commitments of $18.5 billion and includes 522,000 participants with 838 clients.
According to the privately held company, this marks one of the strongest first-half sales periods of the past five years.
"The defined contribution market continues to be highly competitive and clients are increasingly focused on selecting a plan-administrative service provider that has the experience and expertise to help them derive maximum value out of their workplace savings plan," said Jeff Lagarce, executive vice president of Workplace Investing with Fidelity Investments, in a press release.
Fidelity says it secured a wide variety of new clients across many different industries and markets. This included Fortune 500 companies such as Kraft Foods, which has some 51,000 participants in its DC plan and about $6.2 billion in assets.
In addition to new sales, Fidelity says it renewed more than $80 billion in business from existing clients in the first half of 2012. The Boston-based firm also said it experienced "strong growth among advisor-sold 401(k) plans," adding 450-plus new clients.
"Fidelity takes tremendous pride in the fact that our existing client base continues to see the value that we bring to our plan sponsors and participants," Lagarce continued. "It is our number one goal to provide the best client experience in the industry."
Fidelity says that overall it provides services, such as one-on-one consultations at employer locations or at 170 Fidelity investor centers nationwide, to 15.7 million retirement plan participants.
