Bank One Rolls Out Universal Life Product
Bank One Corp of Chicago is offering a variable universal life insurance product whose investment choices include selections from the One Group of mutual funds. The product, available through the wealth management stores that Bank One operates in its branches, targets investors who want to do estate planning with minimal tax consequences, said Tina Haza, product manager.Bank One's goal is for the product to gather $100 million of assets under management in its first year. Underwritten by American General Life Insurance Co. of Houston, the insurance product is being rolled out in stages; all 150 sales representatives should be selling it by the end of March.
- Karen Talley
TD Waterhouse Teams With an On-Line Firm
The brokerage arm of Toronto-Dominion Bank said Tuesday that it has been named the exclusive brokerage partner of Money.net, an on-line financial news and information service.The alliance will enable Money.net customers to get access to TD Waterhouse Group Inc.'s on-line brokerage services directly from the Money.net site, the banking company unit said.
The announcement came a week after TD Waterhouse was named the exclusive brokerage partner of www.wemedia.com, a Web site for people with disabilities.
- Cheryl Winokur
E-Trade Clients to Get More Data via Internet
E-Trade Group Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., said Tuesday that it is expanding the account information that customers can get on-line. Tax documents, including consolidated 1099s, are now available on-line, and trade confirmations and account statements will be available starting next month, said David Greene, senior product manager at E-Trade. Images of cleared checks will follow that, he said.E-Trade customers can already check account balances and holdings on-line, a spokeswoman said.
Customers will continue to receive a paper copy of tax documents, as the Internal Revenue Service requires. But customers will be required to choose whether to receive trade confirmations and account statements over the Web or through the mail, Mr. Greene said.
Datek Online of Iselin, N.J., also recently rolled out account statements on-line, a spokesman said.
- Cheryl Winokur
Fidelity Passes Schwab As Biggest Fund Mart
Fidelity Investments has overtaken Charles Schwab & Co. as sponsor of the largest mutual fund supermarket.At the end of 1999, Boston-based Fidelity's FundsNetwork Xchange had $176.8 billion of assets, up 61% from a year earlier. San Francisco-based Schwab's OneSource supermarket had $176.6 billion of assets at yearend, up 37%. Both firms' totals excluded money market funds and proprietary mutual funds.
Separately, Fidelity said Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it will host a meeting for shareholders of the Fidelity Magellan Fund on April 19 to approve modifications to the fund's management contract and investment policies.
The proposals include lowering Fidelity Magellan's fees when the company's assets under management exceed a certain level and would permit increased investment in securities of a single issuer.
Fidelity Magellan was the county's largest mutual fund on Jan. 31, with $100.85 billion of assets, according to Financial Research Corp. of Boston.
- Amy L. Anderson and Cheryl Winokur
