Securing seamless stock trades

Markets move quickly, and clients expect their advisers and brokers to respond just as fast. That’s why a fully integrated cash hub is the foundation for responsive portfolio management. Here’s how three brokers are spending less time moving money around, and more time helping clients move on opportunities and build their portfolios.

Introduction

From portfolio rebalancing to opportunistic moves, stockbrokers and advisers need to respond quickly to client needs and market shifts. Time spent chasing client account information, manually entering data, checking whether clients have the right amount of cash to fund an investment or authorising transfers, is time away from what you do best – helping clients build a strong portfolio. 

With a strategic approach to managing cash, you can help your clients make the most of their money. Here’s how three wealth and stockbroking firms are doing just that. 

Benefit 1: Seamless integration

“It’s the hub of our client’s portfolios.”

Macquarie’s Cash Management Account (CMA) acts as a central point for managing cash for Stephen Spencer, Senior Client Adviser at Taylor Collison. The private broking and portfolio management adviser’s clients include individuals, self-managed super funds (SMSFs), family trusts, charities, associations and more, so he values a simple solution that meets varied needs.

“The Macquarie Cash Management Account is the hub of everything clients on our Portfolio Management Service do with us, from funding share purchases and receiving investment revenue, to moving money into the Macquarie Accelerator or a term deposit when we’re looking for a fixed interest, higher rate environment for them,” he explains. 

“The more efficiently we manage these things for our clients, the more time we can spend doing the things that we're good at.”

Seamless system integration ensures Stephen and his team receive data feeds from their clients’ CMAs directly into Taylor Collison’s back-office system. When they’re on the phone to a client, brokers don’t have to log into separate systems to check the account balances – it’s all there in one place. They can see account balances whenever required, and transfer money in real time with client permission.

Automatic reconciliation is enabled by data feeds to the client portal, another feature that saves the team time. “Rather than handling every transaction, we’re just dealing with exceptions where money is coming in or out that we weren’t expecting. And our clients’ accountants also say they appreciate the integration into their systems.”

“Macquarie’s apps and technology mean a lot can be done online rather than through manual forms, and that makes life easier for firms like ours,” he explains.

Benefit 2: Visibility and control

“It gives us a total wealth view of client assets.”

For broking platform AUSIEX, a cash management account plays a vital role in giving advisers a full view of their client assets. Brett Grant, Head of Product, Customer Experience and Marketing says his platform’s goal is to “make it easy for the advisers in our network to have everything they need at their fingertips.” 

AUSIEX services around 4,500 advisers and 850 dealer groups, executing trades on behalf of their clients who are mostly financial advisers. 

“The adviser will have a conversation with their client around their investment strategy and how to implement that. When they have visibility of their client’s cash account, they can simply and efficiently execute the trade or investment with confidence, then move the money over to AUSIEX to pay for that investment.”

With Macquarie’s CMA, AUSIEX advisers have complete control and visibility over their clients’ accounts, making it simple for them to initiate transactions and move money in and out with permission. And once a trade has been completed, advisers continue to have visibility over income flowing back into the CMA, so they can track performance and make any necessary adjustments. 

The high level of visibility also means Brett and the team can help advisers manage their trading limits and exposure as well as providing greater certainty around where funds are coming from and when they will be available for settlement. 

“Advisers need to know what cash is available for a range of different investment opportunities. I think a total wealth view creates a lot of efficiency, and having everything in one place makes it really easy for them."

Security and remote authentication

“Third party authentication adds value.”

As wealth advisers at Canaccord Genuity, Ryan Scarth and James Blaufelder find the simplicity of Macquarie’s CMA makes their teams’ lives easier – especially when it comes to transacting safely on behalf of their clients.  

“Withdrawal forms are becoming obsolete and taking the funds transfer process online requires us to have the right risk protocols in place. Macquarie’s Authenticator feature adds this extra layer of protection.”

Macquarie Authenticator, which allows a client to approve a transaction remotely from their phone, is a core feature Ryan, James and their team rely on every day.

“Clients often request we transfer funds between their accounts – a pension payment from an SMSF for example. Once we’ve placed the transfer request, the client simply approves it on their Authenticator app. It’s secure and the process is easy.”

For Ryan and James, the Macquarie CMA’s enhanced security and functionality is timely, given the focus on cash deposits in the current market and the potential for security risks.

“At a time when we’re seeing a lot of fraud, it’s important to protect our clients by making the transfer process as secure and seamless as possible,” they say.

In summary

Active cash management is increasingly important for clients and their advisers, and having full visibility, access and control is the key. A secure, fully integrated cash management suite with tools such as Macquarie’s CMA and linked higher interest Macquarie Cash Management Accelerator Account can make it easier for you to engage with your client’s cash, manage your day-to-day trading activities and seamlessly move clients’ cash around, with permission. 

As these three firms have found, having one central hub for cash makes servicing client needs a seamless experience. And that means they have more time for focusing on higher value advice, and ensuring investments are working as hard as possible.