Only a month after it paid more than $200 million to settle allegations of improper mutual fund trading with regulators, Alliance Captial Management has announced that it will be undertaking sweeping changes to win back credibility and rebuild its lagging business.

During a conference call yesterday with analysts, Alliance Capital’s ceo, Lewis Sanders, described the company’s retail fund business as “quite depressed” and outlined a number of steps the firm would take to rebuild the business.

According to a Dow Jones report, the firm will make lowering costs an immediate priority. As part of its settlement with regulators, the firm agreed to cut is management fees, but Sanders added that the firm plans to reduce its transfer agency fees as well.

Most significantly, Sanders said the firm plans to ‘rationalize its fund offerings, saying this will most likely mean that Alliance “will need fewer funds than we currently have.” However, he did not say which funds would be part of the cuts. He did add that fund cuts could mean job cuts.

Another initiative is to become an industry leader in terms of transparency, said Sanders. This includes clear descriptions for investors of fees, potential discounts and services they should expect from Alliance, he said.

The firm also aims to strengthen the knowledge of its wholesalers in an effort to fortify its relationships with investors and their financial advisers.  

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