Fidelity to Move 1,200 Jobs to Florida

Fidelity Investments will move 1,200 jobs to Florida, planning to open a customer-service center in Jacksonville by 2010 that will be manned by phone representatives, traders, salespeople and financial planners, The Boston Globe reports. It will be located alongside its current retail brokerage operations there and require an investment of $27.25 million to refurbish the site.

Fidelity still intends to retain its headquarters in Boston and remain one of the state's largest employers but is looking to expand customer service and support centers into other regions of the country in order to have a greater physical presence among investors, be in a better position to provide continuous customer service and tap into new pools of talent. Fidelity also runs call centers in Kentucky, Texas and Toronto.

Fidelity selected Jacksonville due to economic incentives and geography. The state is granting the company a tax break of $3,000 per employee and a grant of $5 million, for a total incentive package of $8.6 million.

Fidelity earlier announced it will move up to 1,500 jobs to Rhode Island and New Hampshire by 2008. Between that move and the move into Florida, Fidelity would be shifting 20% of its current Massachusetts workforce of 12,900 out of state by the end of the decade. In addition, there have been reports that Fidelity will also move a sizeable portion of its workforce to North Carolina.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Money Management Executive
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING