Lipper: sell funds, don't advise them.

WASHINGTON - The president of Lipper Analytical Services Inc. said Monday that banks should focus on distributing, rather than on advising, mutual funds.

Banks are forbidden to distribute funds they advise. Many bankers prefer ongoing income from advising funds to commissions from selling them.

But "banks should be interested in the mutual fund business because it helps tehm sell other products," A. Michael Lipper said at a bank mutual funds conference. Banks can use their experience selling mutual funds "to sell, in time, CDs and loans," he said.

Laws are not the biggest marketing obstacle for banks, Mr. Lipper said. Rather, he said, the main problem is that managers are unused to battling Wall Street and other competitors for deposits and loans.

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