As third-party financial websites and applications begin to use Fidelity Access, Fidelity clients will no longer need to provide those sites and applications with their Fidelity log-in credentials—their account usernames and passwords—in order to share their Fidelity account information. Instead, when clients choose to access their Fidelity account information through a financial website or application that participates in Fidelity Access, they will automatically be linked to Fidelity and can then quickly and easily authorize Fidelity to provide that site or application with access to their Fidelity account information; they can even designate the specific Fidelity accounts to which they want to offer access. Once Fidelity receives that authorization, Fidelity Access will allow that financial website or application to access the client's Fidelity account information through a secure connection.

Fidelity Access lets clients maintain control over the access they provide to their account information. On the Fidelity Access control center, which will be located on Fidelity's websites, Fidelity.com, NetBenefits.com and WealthscapeInvestor.com1, clients will be able to see which third-party websites or applications they have authorized to access their Fidelity account information and can change or remove those permissions at any time.

"We see great and growing opportunities for everyone to benefit from innovation enabled by secure data sharing solutions, such as Fidelity Access, which are based on open technology standards. Today, there are a range of financial websites and applications that investors and financial advisors use, which aggregate data from clients' various financial accounts, wherever they are held," said Stuart Rubinstein, Head of Data Aggregation at Fidelity Investments."We want to make sharing Fidelity account data with these sites and applications convenient and more secure, while giving our clients control over that process.

Fidelity Access does just that—there's no longer any need for clients to share their Fidelity account usernames and passwords with third-party financial sites and applications, and clients can quickly and easily review and manage which sites and applications have access. With major data breaches exposing more and more people to ever greater risk, and the demand for data sharing solutions poised to accelerate, the time is right for Fidelity Access."

Committed to a Smooth Transition to Fidelity Access

Fidelity is committed to a smooth transition for clients and third-party financial sites and applications. There is no need for Fidelity clients to make any changes or take any action at this time. Fidelity will keep clients informed as third-party financial websites and applications move to Fidelity Access, including advising them of any steps they may need to take, such as re-authorizing third-party financial sites and applications to access information from their Fidelity accounts.

Fidelity is working with third-party financial websites and applications to enable them to connect through Fidelity Access, which is available now; sites and applications may connect to it as soon as they want. To protect clients, third-party firms that want to connect to Fidelity Access must adhere to strict security standards; destroy any user IDs and passwords previously acquired from Fidelity clients; and assume responsibility for handling Fidelity client data they receive, including liability should that data be breached, compromised or misused after they've received it. Participating financial websites and applications will not be charged by Fidelity for using Fidelity Access; once they agree to its requirements, websites and applications can access Fidelity client account data through Fidelity Access without charge.

When the roll-out of Fidelity Access is complete, Fidelity will no longer permit third-party financial websites and applications to use Fidelity account usernames and passwords to access information from Fidelity accounts. Fidelity expects to complete the roll-out in 2018.