On March 16, 2004, representatives of Fidelity Investments met with staff members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to discuss issues relating to the Commission's proposed rule amendments concerning the pricing of investment company shares in Investment Company Act Release No. 26288 (Dec. 11, 2003) ("Late Trading Proposal"). The following Commission staff members attended the meeting: Paul Roye, Director, IM; Robert Plaze, Associate Director, IM; C. Hunter Jones, Assistant Director, IM; Penelope Saltzman, Senior Counsel, IM; and Adam Glazer, Attorney, IM; Heather Traeger, Counsel, Office of Commissioner Roel C. Campos; Larry Bergmann, Associate Director, Division of Market Regulation ("MR"); Jerry Carpenter, Assistant Director, MR; Jo Anne Swindler, Assistant Director, MR; Susan Petersen, Special Counsel, MR; Josephine Tao, Special Counsel, MR; and Denise Landers, Attorney-Fellow, MR; Gene Gohlke, Associate Director, Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE"); and Victoria Silver, Securities Compliance Examiner, OCIE.

The Fidelity representatives discussed in greater detail the central clearinghouse concept described in Fidelity's comment letter. Some of Fidelity's representatives had first discussed the central clearinghouse with staff members at a meeting on February 26, 2004. This alternative would limit same-day pricing to orders received by a clearinghouse (i.e., NSCC) by 4 p.m. The representatives noted that they believed that the clearinghouse alternative could work well in conjunction with the proposed hard 4, and the clearinghouse would be viable even if the Commission adopted the proposed hard 4.

The representatives noted that a small percentage of retirement plan transactions would not qualify for same-day pricing under the proposed hard 4, and these plan transactions also would have difficulty qualifying for same-day pricing under the clearinghouse concept. The representatives suggested that these plan transactions could be excepted from the hard 4, if the intent of the plan transaction is submitted prior to 4 p.m. and on a participant basis. The representatives added that they were still studying this issue and would formulate more specific requirements. They reiterated that under any of the proposals, account rebalancing could be performed using the previous day's net asset value.