Fidelity Investments has given a small piece of its processing business to J.P. Morgan & Co.
The Boston-based goliath of mutual funds quietly awarded its controlled disbursement business to Morgan early last month. This means that Fidelity sends its mutual fund and brokerage customers checks for redemptions and dividends written against accounts held at Morgan. The New York company receives transaction fees from Fidelity.
Fidelity transferred the business from one or two Boston-area banks because of price, service, and the fact that Morgan is a vendor to the company in other areas, a Fidelity spokeswoman said.
Separately, she denied rumors that Fidelity is soliciting bids from banks for processing checks for 800,000 fund customers who have check-writing privileges. The company's annually renewable contract with a subsidiary of United Missouri Bancshares, first awarded in May 1992, is going through a final phase of conversion, she said. That means that more customers whose checks are still processed by Shawmut National Corp.-which previously held the contract - will soon be switched to the Missouri bank.
