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Mellon Bank Corporation of Pittsburgh and its mutual fund company, the Dreyfus Corporation, announced the start of a new family of offshore funds based in Dublin, Ireland. The fund family, Dreyfus Global Funds, plc, will be composed of four funds: The Cash Plus Fund, U.S. Treasury Fund, Deutsche Mark Fund and Sterling Fund. The funds are not available to U.S. or Irish citizens.

Straus Corporate Communications of New York, an investor relations firm, and Caithness, a corporate marketing organization based in Toronto, announced they have formed an alliance to provide corporate communications services to companies in both the U.S. and Canada. For U.S. companies, the alliance will provide a Canadian resource for communications materials production at savings of up to 40 percent from U.S. prices. In turn, the alliance will provide Canadian companies with services designed to build an investment presence in the U.S.

E*Trade announced the launch of Power Search, its newest research tool for mutual fund investors, which was developed by Personalogic, a San Diego-based software design firm. Using Power Search, E*Trade's mutual fund investors will be able to compare funds they have selected with as many as 20 other funds.

Wilshire Associates of Santa Monica has introduced a new software feature that allows plan sponsors to evaluate the relationship between the size of assets under management and the return for a given investment manager. Called "Asset Growth vs. Value-Added," it has been incorporated into the Wilshire Compass, software that helps investment executives determine asset allocation strategies, optimal manager allocations, and ideal managers for specific asset classes.

PIMCO Funds Distributors LLC of Stamford, Conn. announced the introduction of the PIMCO Funds Asset Allocation Series - three actively managed mutual funds that invest in diversified portfolios of PIMCO funds.

Thomas White International of Chicago, investment adviser to the Thomas White Funds Family, announced the opening of the new Thomas White American Growth Fund. The fund is designed to seek long-term returns, with lower volatility compared to comparable funds, by investing in equities of broadly diversified U.S. companies. The fund is no-load and requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500.

It will take more than high fees, from now on, to prove that an independent fund director is not independent.

The STI Classic Funds is on the verge of settling a portion of a class action lawsuit which it brought against Bollinger Industries, the exercise equipment manufacturer, and securities firms which participated in Bollinger's Nov., 1993 initial public offering.

Deutsche Bank AG and Bankers Trust Corporation are in the advanced stages of negotiations concerning a potential cash merger at a proposed price of $93 per Bankers Trust share. The board of directors of Bankers Trust, and the steering committee of the Deutsche Bank Vorstand (or management board), have each indicated their support for the proposed transaction.

Scudder announced it is opening the Scudder Retirement Plus Account, a no-fee retirement account for mutual funds and other investment products. It will provide investors access to over 60 no-load Scudder funds and more than 2,000 other funds.

Scudder Funds announced a three-year agreement with IBM to provide IBM Internet Connection Services to its customers. IBM will provide Scudder's fund customers with a choice of three service plans, and offer free trial service for the first 30 days or 30 hours, whichever occurs first.

Hoping to capture a piece of the $192 billion commercial bank sweep market, the year-old partnership of American Century Investments and J. P. Morgan has introduced a same-day bank sweep program.

A proposed shorter disclosure document for Canadian mutual fund investors is an improvement over earlier forms, but needs to be made even simpler, industry officials say.

After selling itself to Bank of America in October of 1987, Robertson Stephens Investment Management, the investment management unit of Robertson Stephens & Company, will return to private ownership. A group of investors led by G. Randy Hecht, the current president and ceo and other senior managers agreed to take private the San Francisco-based investment manager with approximately $4 billion under management for an undisclosed sum.

Wilmington Trust of Delaware was chosen last month as investment manager of the Kiewit family of mutual funds. The name of the funds was changed to WT Investment Trust I. At the time of the change, the group of three funds had net assets of $531 million. Founded in 1884, Omaha-based Peter Kiewit Sons is one of the nation's largest construction firms.

Federated Investors, a leading investment management firm that manages about $103 billion in assets in more than 150 mutual funds, is opening a new bond fund. The Federated Ultrashort Bond Fund will seek higher yields than money market funds. It will invest in a variety of short-duration debt securities, government bonds and mortgage- and asset-backed bonds. The fund's initial net asset value will be $2 per share.

Fidelity is planning to introduce telephone response units that will allow investors in 401(k) and 403(b) plans to make investment changes by speaking into their phones. The company plans to start the service in early 1999 and have it available for all 401(k) and 403(b) plans by the end of the year.

Lord, Abbett & Company has introduced a new mutual fund. The Lord Abbett Growth Opportunities Fund will invest primarily in mid-sized companies with market capitalizations of $1 billion to $6 billion, with histories of strong earnings and revenue growth as well as experienced management teams.

A recent federal court decision is causing mutual fund industry lawyers to have reservations about simplifying fund prospectuses even as mutual fund companies are redoubling their efforts to produce the revised documents.

Fidelity announced the opening of Fidelity Tax Managed Stock Fund, which will seek long term growth while attempting to reduce the impact of federal taxes on shareholders' returns.