AT THE BELL

Pioneering higher pay

Pioneer Group chief executive John F. Cogan Jr. last year was paid a salary of $525,000, a bonus of $550,000 and other compensation that brought his total package to $1.08 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s a 10.3% raise over the previous year. In addition, 71-year-old Mr. Cogan received stock options, potentially worth $1.9 million by 2008. The Boston-based company’s chief investment officer, David D. Triple, came in at $1.47 million, including a restricted stock award of $291,984. Mr. Triple’s 1997 take-home pay represents a whopping 62% increase over 1996. He also earned stock options potentially worth $281,823 by 2007.

Monkey business school

A half-dozen male students at Harvard Business School have been disciplined for sexually harassing female classmates during the last school year with lewd notes, explicit top-10 lists and unwelcome physical contact. The unidentified students will graduate, but some have been banned from the ceremony. All have been required to perform community service and to undergo counseling.

Convergent sets Swan singing

Convergent Capital Management Inc. has purchased a majority stake in Philip V. Swan Associates, a Pasadena, Calif., money manager for high-net-worth individuals and family offices. The acquisition is Convergent’s fifth and brings the Chicago-based money-manager holding company’s assets under management to about $4 billion. Swan runs about $1 billion. Swan’s shareholders are keeping a 20% interest in the company, says Rick Adler, senior vice president with Convergent. Terms weren’t disclosed. Philip V. Swan sold the firm four years ago to regional investment bank and brokerage Chicago Corp., but he and others in the firm bought back the operation after Chicago Corp. was acquired by Dutch banking giant ABN Amro.

March marvelous for mutuals

Americans dumped record amounts into mutual funds in March, investing at a clip of $1.7 billion a day, according to Investment Company Institute estimates. Tallies from the Washington-based mutual fund trade group, which reports official data at the end of the month, show investors parked $37.5 billion in net new cash in mutual funds. The last record was in January when mutual funds took in $32.7 billion.”Investors are taking a long-term view,” says Taney Brazeal, director of investment research at Birmingham, Ala.-based Haines Financial Advisers Inc., which supervises $180 million in assets. “They’re ignoring short-term valuations.”

Five for the Fourth

San Francisco-based BancAmerica Robertson Stephens Investment Management will launch five mutual funds in July. All five of the funds will be global and have a value bent, a spokeswoman says. The company currently offers four global funds, including Paul H. Stephens’ Contrarian Fund, and one value fund. The new offerings will increase Robertson Stephens’ fund total to 17.

Across the O-hi-o

Cincinnati’s Star Banc Corp. is paying $696 million in stock for Trans Financial Inc. as it expands across the Ohio river into Kentucky and Tennessee. It’s Star Banc’s third purchase since September, when it paid $655 million for Great Financial Corp. In February, it bought $1.3 billion in deposits and $191 million in loans from another Ohio bank, Banc One Corp., for an undisclosed amount. After the latest deal, Star will have 117 branches and $3.7 billion in deposits in Kentucky, making it No. 2 in branches and No. 3 in deposits. Chairman and CEO Jerry Grundhofer said he doesn’t know how many employees will lose their jobs, but he plans to cut costs by 30%.

Etc.: $1 trillion-plus in 401(k)s

Assets in 401(k) plans topped $1 trillion at the end of March, according to Spectrem Group, the San Francisco-based researcher and consultant. More than 25 billion workers participate in the retirement vehicles at nearly 270,000 companies. . . The Federal Reserve Board could reach a decision on First Union Corp.’s $17 billion purchase of CoreStates Financial Group when it meets today. The deal is on the board’s agenda. . . Siebert Financial Corp. filed to register 1,000,000 shares of common stock. Boss Muriel F. Siebert said the proceeds may be used to upgrade and market SiebertNet, her Internet-based trading service. . .Rumors are swirling that Boston-based Liberty Financial Cos. has walked away from negotiations to buy Edgemont Asset Management of New York, owners of the $6 billion Kaufmann Fund. Officials at Liberty were not available for comment at press time. . . A South Korean government audit board asked prosecutors to determine if former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Kang Kyung Shik and two others should be blamed for last year’s currency crisis.

Correction

Due to a typographical error, the 1997 bonus Liberty Financial Cos. paid to CEO Kenneth Leibler was reported inaccurately. The correct figure is $1.1 million.