Fidelity Investments revamps adviser sales efforts

* Latest step in battle vs Schwab, State Street Corp.

* Advisers and brokers sell majority of mutual funds

BOSTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments said on Monday that it plans to reorganize hundreds of workers in an attempt to win more business from financial advisers, the Boston fund giant's latest move in the hotly contested sales channel.

Outside financial advisers and brokers now sell the majority of mutual funds held by individual investors, a noted contrast to decades ago when most people bought fund shares directly from Fidelity and its competitors via mail, telephone or walk-in office visits.

Charles Schwab & Co (SCHW.N) currently leads the race for custody assets from the so-called registered investment advisers, or RIAs, with $590 billion in assets at the end of 2009, up from $482 billion a year earlier, according to figures from Aite Group, an independent research and advisory firm.

Fidelity was second with $390 billion, up from $290 billion a year earlier, Aite found. Other major players included State Street Corp (STT.N) and TD Ameritrade AMTD.O.

Fidelity said it plans to reorganize support teams so each RIA firm has a single point of contact at Fidelity for services and questions.

The firm tested this program with about 50 employees, and now will expand it to include several hundred of its workers by the middle of the year, said Maggie Serravalli, the executive vice president in charge of the area.

The changes will affect employees in Fidelity's offices in Westlake, Texas and in Smithfield, Rhode Island, she said. (Reporting by Ross Kerber, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)