Salim Ramji is betting the path to Vanguard Group customers’ hearts is still through their wallets. In the first major initiative in Ramji’s six-month run as chief executive, Vanguard on Monday slashed the fees on nearly half of its U.

Vanguard announced fee reductions for 168 mutual fund and exchange-traded share classes across 87 funds. The move will save investors roughly $350 million this year. The asset manager’s wide fee cut comes less than a month after Vanguard agreed to pay more than $100 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged violations involving its target date retirement funds.