Wall St. Investor Services offering Chase family.

Wall Street Investor Services has added Chase Manhattan Bank's Vista family of mutual funds to its product list and is in discussions with about a half dozen other banks.

Wall Street Investor, which sets up mutual fund marketing programs in banks, began offering the Vista funds in February without fanfare. It marks the first time that the New York company has offered bank-managed funds to its 60 client banks.

The Vista funds were chosen because of the impressive returns they have delivered in recent years, said Eric Alexander, Wall Street Investor's executive vice president.

"They've certainly garnered consumer awareness because of their performance," he said.

Among the banks that Wall Street Investor is talking with is U.S. Trust Company of New York, which acts as investment adviser to the UST Master Funds.

Multiple Channels

For its part, Chase sees the agreement with Wall Street Investor as a natural extension of already ambitious marketing efforts.

Chase offers its funds through a number of internal channels, including in branches through a marketing agreement with GNA Corp., Seattle.

Externally, Vista funds are available through CoreLink, a Concord, Ca., third-party marketer that recently signed up its first two bank clients. CoreLink includes among its product offerings bank-run mutual funds, including Vista, that are distributed by its chief investor, Concord Financial.

Brokerages such as Charles Schwab and Smith Barney also offer Vista funds.

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