At the Bell

Schwab adds clout to conference talks

Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. is bringing in two wise men at the last minute to reassure its advisers about world events at the 2001 Impact conference in Seattle.

George P. Schultz, 81, secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, will join in a dialogue with Charles R. Schwab, the San Francisco online broker’s chairman and co-CEO, at Wednesday’s breakfast.

Brent Scowcroft, 76, national security adviser to President George Bush during Desert Storm, will speak at the closing lunch Thursday.

New York Life buys a quant shop in Ky.

New York Life Insurance Co. has acquired QED Investments LLC, a quantitative money manager in Lexington, Ky.

The deal, the insurer’s third asset-manager purchase in 12 months, includes an established wrap-account business and adds about $650 million in assets to New York Life’s $143-billion asset management unit.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. New York Life was the nation’s ninth-largest domestic insurer in terms of assets at the end of 2000.

Calvert puts exec at subadviser reins

Calvert Distributors Inc. is bringing in a senior equity investment officer to increase the Bethesda, Md., fund company’s management of it nine subadviser relationships. Calvert is expected to announce this week the hiring of Kemal Ahmed for the new role.

Mr. Ahmed, formerly a senior investment officer managing $4 billion in domestic equities for the World Bank Group’s treasury department, will be overseeing Calvert’s equity mutual fund operation.

Calvert, known for applying social screens in the management of mutual funds, has $7.5 billion under management in 27 funds, 14 of them equity funds.

A Sarasota broker is discussing sale

FAS Wealth Management Services Inc., a troubled Sarasota, Fla., broker-dealer, has been talking to potential buyers. Sources last week said that a recent and serious suitor was Roan-Meyers Associates LP of New York, a brokerage boutique specializing in micro-caps.

FAS, with about 100 brokers, has been late paying out commissions twice this year, most recently last month.

Executives with FAS and Roan-Meyers declined to comment.

SIPC liquidating clearing company

Accounts for 175,000 investors at financially troubled MJK Clearing Inc., a subsidiary of Stockwalk Group Inc. in Minneapolis, will be transferred to SWS Securities Inc. of Dallas. The arrangement, worked out by the Securities Investor Protection Corp., was approved last week by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minneapolis.

SIPC said that customers with accounts up to $2 million would have access to their full balance, while a small number of large-account holders would have access only to a percentage until MJK Clearing’s other assets have been disposed of. The liquidation is the largest ever handled by SIPC.

Big Board chooses two top executives

The New York Stock Exchange has named Robert G. Britz and Catherine R. Kinney to replace William R. Johnston, president and chief operating officer.

Mr. Britz and Ms. Kinney, both group executive vice presidents, will each have the titles of co-chief operating officer, co-president and executive vice chairman.

They will also become members of the board of directors. The changes are planned for the start of 2002. Mr. Johnston will become senior adviser to Richard Grasso, chairman and chief executive.

Correction

A Sept. 24 Moving Up item erroneously described Stephen Brent Wells and Ralph D. Sinsheimer as having been named chief operating officer and senior vice president, respectively, in the wealth management group at Neuberger Berman Inc. They hold those titles at Neuberger Berman Trust Cos.