Fidelity International CEO Unexpectedly Steps Down

Fidelity International Chief Executive Officer Anne Richards is unexpectedly stepping down after five years, leaving the asset manager without an immediate replacement.

Richards, 59, will remain at the firm as a vice chair to help Fidelity with its key external relationships and strategic partnerships, according to a statement Monday.

Succession plans “will be communicated at a later date,” the company said. A spokesperson for Fidelity declined to comment on the reasons for Richards’s decision to retire.

Assets at the firm have almost doubled during Richards’s tenure, jumping from $414 billion when she took over in 2018 to $714.3 billion at the end of September.

She has overseen a big push into private markets, hiring dozens of people and debuting the firm’s first private lending fund this year.

Richards, who chairs the industry lobby group TheCity UK, received a damehood for her long career in financial services.