Funds Notebook: New Baron Fund Pays for Visibility in Schwab Supermarket

Three or four times each year, Charles Schwab (SCH Quote) heavily promotes a new mutual fund to customers and advisers during the fund's subscription period. In return, the fund's adviser pays Schwab an additional fee beyond what it pays to be included in Schwab's OneSource fund supermarket.

In the latest of these agreements, Schwab has agreed to market the Baron iOpportunity fund, which starts raising money today in a six-week subscription period that ends Feb. 29. During this period, investors can reserve shares at $10. After Feb. 29, investors' money will be pooled and used to launch the fund's portfolio. (TSC first reported on these promotional arrangements in a story last fall.)

Schwab will advertise iOpportunity on the home page of its Web site, as well as in emails to customers and financial advisers. These promotional efforts, slated to start in a couple of weeks, will give the fund greater visibility than the other funds on OneSource. (The fund wasn't listed on the Web site at midday Tuesday.) ...