Account Data Security at Fidelity (2024)

FAQs

How is my money protected at Fidelity? ›

Protecting your assets

With our Customer Protection Guarantee, we reimburse you for losses from unauthorized activity in your accounts. We also participate in asset protection programs such as FDIC and SIPC to help provide the best service possible. See our protection guarantee and account coverage.

No matter where you visit us, we always verify your identity before allowing access to your accounts. Employees only see your data on a "need-to-know" basis, and we monitor all transactions for suspicious or unusual behavior. For your health safety, we also offer contactless verification options.

Fidelity Investments has disclosed a data breach that impacted more than 28,000 customers.

As you may know, Fidelity is a private company. Our scale and strength have helped us weather even extreme volatility in the financial markets. Deposits to the core position of a Fidelity® Cash Manage- ment Account that have been swept to a participating Program Bank are eligible for FDIC insurance coverage.

They must also have a certain amount of liquidity on hand, thus allowing them to cover funds in these cases. What this means is that even if you have more than $500,000 in one brokerage account, chances are high that you won't lose any of your money even if the broker is forced into liquidation.

The assets of each Fidelity fund are held by its custodian separate from any other assets belonging to Fidelity or any other fund. Neither Fidelity nor its creditors may access the funds' assets to satisfy financial obligations of Fidelity.

If a brokerage fails, another financial firm may agree to buy the firm's assets and accounts will be transferred to the new custodian with little interruption. The government also provides insurance, known as SIPC coverage, on up to $500,000 of securities or $250,000 of cash held at a brokerage firm.

As part of our ongoing commitment to our customers, we're proud to offer our Customer Protection Guarantee: We will reimburse your Fidelity account for any losses due to unauthorized activity.

Check for suspicious logins into your accounts and activate notifications for them if the service you use provides them. Be on the lookout for misleading password retrieval emails and messages and only change your credentials by logging into the account from the official website.

Fees. Fidelity has average trading and low non-trading fees, including commission-free US stock trading. On the negative side, margin rates and fees for some mutual funds can be high. We compared Fidelity's fees with two similar brokers we selected, E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade.

Is Fidelity too big to fail? ›

Whether this makes Fidelity “too big to fail” or not is up for debate, as that term usually applies to banks instead of brokerage firms. However, it seems very unlikely that the US government would allow such a large and systemically important firm to fail in a worst-case scenario.

Is Fidelity a safe company to invest with? Yes, Fidelity is one of the safest brokerages to invest with. It's an industry leader with a stellar reputation and fully regulated in the U.S. with the SEC and FINRA, is trusted by over 43 million people and holds over $11.5 trillion in assets under administration.

Fidelity is not a bank and brokerage accounts are not FDIC-insured, but uninvested cash balances are eligible for FDIC insurance. Balances above $5 million may be placed in a non-FDIC insured money market fund, which earns a different rate.

Key Takeaways

If a brokerage fails, another financial firm may agree to buy the firm's assets and accounts will be transferred to the new custodian with little interruption. The government also provides insurance, known as SIPC coverage, on up to $500,000 of securities or $250,000 of cash held at a brokerage firm.

Available through The Fidelity Insurance Network^®, immediate fixed income annuities provide¹ a guaranteed stream of income for the rest of your life or a set period of time.