Malvern-based investment behemoth Vanguard Group is planning to raise brokerage fees in a renewed attempt to get its holdout customers to embrace online banking, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

These new fees reflect “changes to our digital interaction expectations” for the company’s 50 million customers. The fees will become effective July 1.

Vanguard invests almost $9 trillion and employs 20,000 employees, over half at or close to its Malvern headquarters.

Yet the change has annoyed some of Vanguard’s longtime clients.

“The hits just keep coming!” said South Jersey-based Vanguard investor John Marshall.

Last year, Marshall moved his money to a brokerage account to avoid previous fees. Now, he is confronted with the new brokerage fees.

“Vanguard is committed to helping clients navigate toward secure, simpler, and more seamless digital pathways,” said Vanguard.

The company emphasized that Vanguard mutual funds and exchange-traded funds can continue to be traded online without commission, which is how the majority of its mutual fund and ETF trades are made. The new fees include a $25 “broker-assisted commission” for buying Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs over the phone, among other things.

Read more about Vanguard raising brokerage fees in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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