Wall Street & Technology: Blog

Measuring the Quality of Your Investors

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:17:59 -0500

The current economic downturn and skittish investors have left administrators and managers concerned about maintaining a stable capital base and avoiding mass redemptions, says Ron Kashden, president of TKS Solutions in this contributed blog entry.

Do�s and Don�ts of Setting Up an Asset Management Business in Japan

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:18:44 -0500

Watching the Olympic diving competition last night and seeing how after every dive the Chinese athletes humbly bow, making a simple, graceful gesture foreign to most Americans, reminded me of how much we could learn and benefit from other countries' customs and practices. Such an attitude is critical to doing business in Asian countries, according to Roger White, managing director of IT consulting firm Citisoft. White recently completed a six-year stint in Tokyo, where he helped U.S. firms expand their asset management businesses in Japan (while working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers). When he first arrived, �I found everything was different � I had to check everything I knew at the door and learn to do things differently.� He observed that the U.S. firms that took a softer approach to implementing new practices, first trying to develop a deep understanding of existing processes and customs before introducing changes, fared far better than those that slammed their American ways on Japanese employees. Also, White found that demonstrating a new process in front of local employees and proving before their eyes that it worked before making them do it, helped them accept it.

Wealth Managers Grade Themselves Poorly on Process

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:22:08 -0500

Software company Northstar recently polled 5,500 wealth managers and found that on a scale of 0 to 80, the average wealth manager scored his firm a 32 in ability to offer best-in-class, holistic and personalized service.

State of the Reuters-Thomson Union

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:37:06 -0500

Like a wartime marriage, the merger of Thomson and Reuters 90 days ago occurred in the harshest of market conditions � the subprime mess quickly led to losses and layoffs among the companies� largest customers � and the merged entity appears to be feeling the strain. Thomson Reuter�s stock price has dropped in the last few weeks due to worries that its business will be affected by the Wall Street job cuts.

Talk to Walt (Bettinger)

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:54:42 -0500

Charles Schwab Corp. named Walter W. Bettinger II as its new CEO, replacing the discount brokerage's founder.

Scottrade Embraces Web 2.0

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:35:05 -0500

A new tutorial webcast added to the public site Podcasts page introduces the firm�s new Scottrade Online Community. Interestingly, we did not find any other mention of the community throughout the public or private site.

Charles Schwab President Talks about Client-first Strategy (VIDEO)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:33:24 -0500

At Forrester's 2008 financial services forum for marketing & strategy professionals, Charles Schwab president and COO, Walt Bettinger, spoke to the audience about the key to the company's reversal of fortune since 2004: rebuilding customer loyalty.

Chat Tools: An Important Component to Customer Service

Mon, 12 May 2008 10:02:13 -0500

Instant messaging is now widely used in both personal and professional settings. Convenience is the great appeal of instant messaging � it allows people to multitask and carry on multiple conversations simultaneously. Aside from chatting with friends, work colleagues are communicating with each other and businesspeople are making deals � sometimes in different parts of the world � without even saying a word. It has become a common customer service communication channel in a variety of industries. From the customer�s perspective, it is a pressure‐free way to get answers to simple questions.

Personal Ads

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:46:24 -0500

With more people accessing the Internet via hand-held devices, website developers are being challenged to create online environments that are compatible with a wide range of hardware, from cell phones to widescreen monitors. A recent Business Week technology article highlights the problems this may cause for companies like Google. The search engine giant and other firms that generate revenue from ads must address the fact that there is less ad inventory available on the small screens of hand-held devices.

Wealth Management Trend: Socially Conscious Investing

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:05:06 -0500

In the midst of this quarter's write-downs, layoffs and earnings disappointments, wealth management clearly remains a bright, profitable star on Wall Street -- in Merrill Lynch, for instance, wealth management was most strongly profitable unit this quarter and financial advisors have been promised they will be spared from the upcoming layoffs. In an interesting trend, more wealth management dollars are moving into socially aware investing. According to the Social Investment Forum, socially responsible investing assets in the U.S surged 18% from 2005 to 2007, outpacing broader managed assets. Although this research focused on institutional investors, retail investors are following the same pattern, at least according to Bill Crager, president of Envestnet. He should know; his firm's platform for financial advisors, which is used by 400 broker/dealers, beta tested a socially aware investment vehicle with a handful of small investment firms and attracted $300 million in six months.

Baby Boomers Prefer Paper Statements and Prospectuses

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:48:25 -0500

Aite Group recently asked a group of 505 U.S. baby boomers (251 pre-retirees and 254 recently retired) how they like to receive brokerage financial statements and prospectuses and to what extent they would like these to be paperless. Surprisingly, they're not as willing to forego paper as one might expect in these carbon-footprint-conscious times.

NAVA Marketing Conference: More Advisor Education Please

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:11:33 -0500

Amidst all of the buzz regarding the progress of NAVA�s Straight Through Processing initiative, advisor education is a topic that has come up quite frequently over the first two days of the 2008 Nava Marketing Conference. Indeed, a panel of distributors commented that one of the most important things annuity providers can do is to provide product education to their advisors. Given the importance of advisor education, it is surprising, then, how few firms use their advisor websites in this capacity.

Someone Needs to Strangle Chicken Little

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:50:55 -0500

If you ask investment advisors for a list of their most important investment tenets, odds are that they�ll include a statement along the lines of "Maintain a disciplined investment approach." Translation: don�t get spooked by market volatility.

130/30 Fund Managers Face Stiff Competition, Many Need Infrastructure Upgrades

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:48:31 -0500

In the past few weeks, State Street, Legg Mason, TD Asset Management, Bear Stearns and other asset management firms have introduced new 130/30 funds; all told, about 140 of these funds exist today. But Colin Bugler, director of prime brokerage for RBC Capital Markets, says these asset managers will face intense competition and will need to ramp up their technology infrastructure, particularly those who are new to the business of shorting stock. (To short a stock is to borrow shares from a broker and sell them to another buyer, with the obligation to buy the shares back at some point in time and return them to the lender. It's a bet that a stock's value will drop, enabling you to buy it back at a cheaper price, while having already pocketed the profit from the original sale at the higher price.)

Little Orphan Annie's Decoder Ring Comes to the Brokerage Industry

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:31:25 -0500

One of my favorite movies is A Christmas Story featuring Peter Billingsly. It takes place in the early 40s and highlights the main character's trials and tribulations leading up to Christmas. One of the sub-plots is his desire to get a decoder ring for his favorite radio show, Little Orphan Annie. He finally gets it and it�s a little brass wheel that has 26 numbers corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. He's disappointed when he decodes his first message, which turns out to be an ad: "Remember to drink your Ovaltine." We were reminded of this when we received our new Passcard from Interactive Brokers.