In Brief: Chase to Launch Mass-Market Web Broker

Chase Manhattan Corp. will start a mass-market Internet brokerage early next year under its own brand, expanding the offerings of its $5-a-trade Brown & Co. unit to include fee-based accounts and access to financial advisers.

The goal: to get as many of Chase's 32 million retail banking, credit card, and lending customers as possible to become clients of the brokerage.

Brown, a deep-discount and Internet brokerage, was "playing to a small segment of customers," so Chase will add advice, mutual funds, fixed-income securities, research, and initial public offerings under the umbrella of Chase.com Internet brand, said William H. Hoefling, executive vice president of consumer services.

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