At the Bell

Investors stay loyal despite fund losses

One out of every six investors last year lost 20% or more of their portfolio value, according to a survey released last week by the Forum for Investor Advice, a Bethesda, Md., organization representing mutual funds that sell through intermediaries.

Despite heavy losses, however, the study found that the majority of investors appear to have stayed the course. Fifteen percent of the 500 investors surveyed by Neuwirth Research Inc. of New York said they had moved, or planned to move, assets into bonds, and 14% said they would move assets into cash.

House panel backs FBI data sharing

The House Financial Services Committee last week approved legislation that would allow financial regulators to set up a network to check out industry employees. The bill was approved by voice vote without dissent.

The bill would give state insurance regulators access to the FBI’s database for the first time. As an example of why they need such access, state regulators point to the case of Martin Frankel, who faces charges that he stole hundreds of millions of dollars from insurance companies after being barred from the securities industry.

Bank One decides Wingspan won’t fly

Bank One Corp. in Chicago last week decided that its stand-alone Internet bank, WingspanBank.com, isn’t going to fly.

The nation’s fifth-largest bank holding company said Thursday it would close the two-year-old bank in the fall and fold its 225,000 customers into its corporate website.

The Internet bank, which cost $150 million to set up, has been a money loser. “We still have a brand and are looking at options for it,” says Tom Kelly, a Bank One spokesman.

End of snag urged on SEC fee cuts

Michael G. Oxley, the Ohio Republican who heads the House Financial Services Committee, called on the Senate to pass a bill that would reduce securities fees imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

His plea came in response to reports that the measure, which would reduce securities fees by $14 billion over 10 years, was being held up in the Senate to fund the patients’ rights bill.

That measure would cost an estimated $15.5 billion over 10 years because of reduced income and payroll taxes.

The Securities Industry Association also sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., urging him to schedule floor action on the bill immediately, noting that the bill is similar to one approved by the Senate in March.

Jackson’s CEO quits after deal fiasco

As part of the continuing fallout from Prudential PLC’s botched bid for American General Corp., Robert Saltzman, 58, president and CEO of Jackson National Life Insurance Co., the British insurer’s primary U.S. unit, has resigned.

Mr. Saltzman had been denied a senior post in the American General deal.

Clark Manning Jr., chief operating officer of Jackson in Lansing, Mich., has been named acting CEO.

Mr. Manning, 42, a former chief actuary for SunAmerica Inc. who followed Mr. Saltzman to Jackson in May 1995, is expected to be named to the permanent CEO post.

WealthTrust buys 2 wealth managers

WealthTrust Inc., a Nashville money management holding company, has acquired controlling equity stakes in Greenwood Capital Management LLC of Greenwood, S.C., and Delta Asset Management LLC of Memphis, Tenn.

The companies manage a combined $1.25 billion for high-net-worth families, foundations and endowments. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

WealthTrust, a unit of Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., now owns six affiliates that manage $3.1 billion.