Fidelity is expanding in Durham by launching new hub, creating 500 jobs
Fidelity Investments, one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S., plans to hire 500 new employees in Durham, as the company creates a new regional hub for its personal investments business.
The expansion comes in addition to Fidelity’s decision in April to expand its Durham team by 225 positions.
“Fidelity Investments is excited to grow our footprint and expand our existing regional site in North Carolina,” Fidelity’s North Carolina head, Rob Merdes, said in a statement. “We’re increasing the number of customer-facing employees to support not only unprecedented client growth and engagement, but also our associates who work hard every day to help our customers.”
Merdes called the new jobs entry-level positions and said North Carolina will play “an important role” in Fidelity’s growth.
North Carolina is not the only state benefiting from Fidelity’s investments this year. The Durham expansion is part of a nationwide hiring spree of 4,000 new employees, as the company adds workers to handle a surge in its online-banking services.
Digital interactions during the pandemic increased by nearly 60% on Fidelity’s mobile and web platforms, Brooke Forbes, head of technology for personal investing at Fidelity, told The News & Observer last month.
The company doesn’t expect those digital interactions to slow down, and it is aggressively hiring new employees to meet the demand. Younger customers, especially, she said, prefer digital banking services.
“As customer demographics change and younger generations get more involved in trading and thinking about investing, their preference is to work in those digital channels,” she said.
Fidelity says it has more than 4,300 employees across North Carolina. A majority of those are based at its Durham office, which has a mix of tech-focused and customer-service jobs.
The Triangle has a growing cluster of financial services firms that have opened tech hubs here.
Other financial companies, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and MetLife, have added hundreds of jobs here in recent years, The News & Observer previously reported.
Many of the new Fidelity jobs are expected to be filled by the middle of this year. It’s a quick turnaround, Forbes said, and the company plans to be aggressive with onboarding new associates.
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