Wells Fargo to Rename Strong Financial Funds

Wells Fargo & Co. will drop the Strong name from mutual funds it is absorbing after its purchase of $29 billion of assets from scandal-tainted Strong Financial Corp.

The San Francisco-based bank said Tuesday that it would rename its mutual fund family the Wells Fargo Advantage funds when the merger of Wells Fargo funds and some Strong funds is completed next quarter.

The combined family will have about 120 funds and about $100 billion of assets under management.

Strong in May agreed to pay $80 million and cut fees by $35 million over five years to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the attorneys general of New York and Wisconsin of improper mutual fund trading.

Also Tuesday, Wells Fargo said it would repurchase as many as 25 million, or 1.5%, of its 1.7 billion shares outstanding. That would be $1.5 billion in stock based on Tuesday’s closing price of $60.33, up 38 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.