Chase Investment Services Group, the broker-dealer arm of Chase Manhattan Bank, has started an investment center for Asian-American investors in New York.
The facility, which opened its doors on Dec. 11 at the Asian Cultural Center in midtown Manhattan, caters to Chinese consumers looking for investment advice.
However, the center is open to all people, regardless of ethnicity.
In its first two weeks, Chase said, the center has helped it sign up 25 new investor clients. Chase executives said they are hoping the Asian Investment Center will help them expand and develop closer ties with the bank's customer base.
"We thought that having an Asian investment center would be another form of segmentation we could pursue," said Gregory A. Rotella, president of Chase Investment Services Group, New York.
"We are principally looking for advice-seekers who are interested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and retirement planning," he added.
At the center, investors can speak with three licensed broker-dealers in Cantonese, Mandarin, or English. Investors also have access to a complete telecommunications hookup for trade transactions and literature on stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
Chase will also use the site as a channel to sell its Vista mutual funds.
"We are very much interested in increasing the sales of our proprietary fund family Vista, whether it is in our segmentation-based investment centers or in our branches," Mr. Rotella said. "But we are providing all of the funds."
Chase officials said they are focusing on the Asian-American community because of its demographics.
According to Chase, Asian-Americans have the highest rate of business ownership among minorities and the community grew 109% between 1980 and 1990, to 7.3 million, and continues to grow at an annual rate of 4%.
Joy Montgomery, president of Money Marketing Initiatives, Morristown, N.J., said the center is a way to make a segment of Chase's market more comfortable using the bank as an investment vehicle.
"More important than the language is the cultural issue: How do I feel about investing and investment with the bank?" Ms. Montgomery said.
Mr. Rotella said the bank is beefing up its investment offerings to keep its depository customers.
"We are constantly trying to find ways to get closer to our customer base," Mr. Rotella said. "Our deposit customers are also increasingly becoming investors. We have to factor that in, or else we are putting at risk the classical deposit business as well."
