AT THE BELL

Vanguard plans online trading

The Vanguard Group is reconfiguring its little-known discount brokerage operation in order to make it more competitive with online giants like Charles Schwab & Co. It confirms plans to add online trading capabilities to 15-year-old Vanguard Brokerage Services, which it formed to keep client assets from moving to competitors that offer discount brokerage services, according to Daniel Wiener, editor of the newsletter Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors. Last year, the Valley Forge, Pa., powerhouse redesigned its World Wide Web site, to allow online exchanges of its funds.

Close call for Roney & Co.

Wonder why First Chicago NBD Corp.’s purchase of Detroit brokerage Roney & Co., originally announced in late November, has taken so long to close?

There was the little matter of the proposed First Chicago-Banc One Corp. merger. That deal, which would form the fifth-largest U.S. bank, “opened enough questions that either side could have decided (Roney) didn’t fit,” says J. Stephen Baine, president of First Chicago’s investment unit. But the deal for the brokerage will close May 8, he says.

Some adjustments had to be made to the $95 million Roney price to reflect the premium Banc One is paying for First Chicago. Mr. Baine wouldn’t elaborate on those changes. For now, Roney will continue to be run from Detroit by its management team. The firm serves more than 300 reps in Michigan and Indiana.

Sending out the clones

Van Kampen American Capital, the mutual fund unit of New York-based Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., plans to begin selling a clone of Morgan Stanley’s top-rated Institutional Equity Growth fund to retail investors through brokerage firms, banks and other intermediaries in July. Equity Growth earned an average 38.4% for the three years through December, and carries fund researcher Morningstar Inc.’s highest five-star rating. The move follows last October’s launch of a retail version of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Global Equity fund, which has attracted $749 million in assets.

Reich & Tang plans new shares

Reich & Tang Mutual Funds, a New York-based money manager with $7.5 billion in assets, plans to roll out a new class of shares for its $165.9 million Delafield fund. The shares, which are not expected to be introduced for several months, will be aimed at wrap accounts, which are pools of mutual funds or private accounts managed for a single fee. The Delafield fund invests mainly in small-cap companies.

Planners No. 1 among advisers

Planners and brokers are the top two choices among middle- to high-income consumers who use financial advisers, according to a survey released last week by the Atlanta-based International Association for Financial Planning, which commissioned Dalbar Inc. of Boston for the research. Of the 7,000 respondents, 35% said they use planners and 33% said they work with stockbrokers. Insurance agents (29%), accountants (26%) and bankers (24%) rounded out the field.

Taking on the trasher

A New York investment company critical of Ogden Corp.’s management is running its own slate of three candidates for four board seats at the May 20 annual meeting and wants the company to replace its CEO and leave the waste-to-energy business, reports sister publication Waste News. Providence Capital Inc. accused Ogden’s management of hurting shareholder returns by having no consistent business strategy. New York-based Ogden, meanwhile, accused Providence of offering to drop its opposition if certain conditions were met, including Ogden’s paying $600,000 annually to Providence for investment banking services.

Etc.: Will Wells sell?

A couple of years ago, what is now U.S. Bancorp tried to stop Wells Fargo & Co. from buying First Interstate Bancorp. On Friday, rumors were flying that the Minneapolis bank is about to buy Wells, which won the battle for Los Angeles-based First Interstate. “Wells is obviously not having a whole lot of luck assimilating that (deal),” says Shawn Willard, an analyst with Black & Co. in Portland, Ore. “One third of their deposits have gone out the door.” Shares of San Francisco-based Wells rose more than 5% — closing at 387.25 after hitting a record high of 389.83 earlier in the day . . .Colleen Mahoney, deputy director of enforcement of the SEC, has been named acting general counsel — replacing Richard Walker, who is scheduled to take over the division from her old boss, William McLucas, on Tuesday. Ms. Mahoney and Mr. McLucas are leaving the SEC, both for private law practices. . . . Move over Calpers, you have company in the $100 billion pension fund stratosphere. The New York State Common Retirement Fund has become only the second U.S. defined-benefit fund to attain that milestone, reports InvestmentNews sister publication Pensions & Investments. Its assets now are close to $105 billion.

Corrections

* An April 27 headline incorrectly stated that United Asset Management’s assets shrank. While its asset inflows shrank, its assets managed grew to $214 billion at the end of March, from $197.5 billion at yearend.

* Due to an editing error, an April 20 story incorrectly stated that Mutual of New York is pressing for legislation to allow mutual holding companies.