Bring an intern on board for the summer with help from FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation & Career Academies UK

London, 15 May, 2008: The Fidelity FundsNetwork™ Adviser Foundation* and Career Academies UK** have joined forces to help advisers benefit from the wealth of students who are looking for work experience over the summer.

The new partnership aims to bring young people into the industry by placing students in adviser firms across the country as summer interns. Advisers stand to benefit from what is a cost-effective way to get in some intelligent helping hands whilst raising awareness of the financial services industry among young people as a valid destination for their career choice post college or university.

Opening up the opportunity for advisers to find summer interns is just one aspect of the recently launched FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation. Its overall aim is to support advisers and firms in every aspect, enabling them to grow their business and become more profitable and effective in a highly complex and ever changing financial services market place.

Rob Fisher, Head of UK Marketing, said: “It’s crucial that more young people start to consider the financial services industry as a destination following college or university. We believe supporting Career Academies UK in the good work they do around encouraging internships is a key part in making this happen and opening the eyes of young people to the opportunities that are theirs for the taking in financial services.
“For all those advisers who want to take advantage of this programme, then act quickly – the summer is almost upon us!”

Ruth Griffiths, Programme Director of Career Academies UK, said: ”We are delighted to be collaborating with the FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation in placing students on internships. For many students, the summer internship is the most exciting element of their two-year course. And the placements are not just beneficial for students; there are benefits for individual companies and also the health and diversity of the wider sector. Career Academies can revolutionise the way in which financial services employers and educationalists work in partnership to identify and prepare the next generation of employees.”

There are over 90 schools and colleges across the UK involved in the Career Academies programme. Students undertaking summer internships have already completed the first year of their course (equivalent to three A levels) and have benefited from one-to-one business mentoring, guest speakers in the classroom and visits to the workplace. They can be assigned to one post or rotated throughout the firm over the course of their six week placement.

For more information about the FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation, or to find out more about Summer Internships please contact training@fundsnetwork.co.uk.

FIL Limited and its subsidiary companies serve the major markets of the world by providing investment products and services to individuals and institutional investors outside the US. FIL Limited manages a total of £130.4 billion of assets***.

Notes to editors:

<sub>*The FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation Mission Statement: To become the UK's leading provider of training and support services - helping to develop adviser businesses, people and careers in the retirement, savings and investments industry.

The FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation is led by Sara Powell is Head of Training and Professional Development, Fidelity FundsNetwork. Responsible for the creation and development of the FundsNetwork Adviser Foundation, Sara has worked at FundsNetwork since July 2006.

Sara has over twenty years experience in the financial services industry, and was previously responsible for developing the training standards for the industry at the Financial Services Skills Council (‘FSSC’). She has also spent time working as an IFA, among other roles in Operations, Professional Development and Sales.

Sara is involved in a number of external membership activities linked to training: a member of the IMA Education and Training Committee; on the SII curriculum panel for Introduction to Investment Qualification; for the FSSC she is Chair of the Major Employers, a member of the Steering Group for Financial Services Sector Qualifications Strategy, and a member of the Qualifications Forum; a member of the of the new Consumer Education Working Group for the CBI; a member of the ROI Institute - (Return on Investment in Training); a Certified ROI Practioner; and a mentor to career academy students as part of the UK Career Academy Foundation.

More generally, Sara works closely with the Institute of Financial Planning (‘IFP’) on developing training for advisers for the CFP (‘Certified Financial Planner’); with the Personal Finance Society (‘PFS’) - working with them on the Partners in Professionalism Programme. FundsNetwork itself is a founder member founder member of the PFS Retirement & Care Faculty and a UK Career Academy Foundation sponsor.</sub>

_{**Inspired by the National Academy Foundation in the US, Career Academies UK was founded in 2002 and is a registered charity. Career Academies UK leads and supports a movement of over 500 employers and 90 schools & colleges, working together to raise the aspirations of 16 to 19-year-olds. www.careeracademies.org.uk}

<sub>*** Source: Fidelity as at 31.03.08

FundsNetwork, Fidelity’s fund platform, was launched in June 2000. It offers advisers and their clients the ability to invest, manage and monitor their investments in one place, bringing them control, efficiency and new business opportunities. The FundsNetwork service is offered and managed by Financial Administration Services Limited. Any opinions expressed are made at the time of writing and can be subject to change without notification. Assets as at 31.03.08 are those of FIL Limited.</sub>