Blog Interview: ByAllAccounts- Scale Your Business and Enhance the Client Experience
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INTERVIEW- Karla Paxton, Technical Relationship Manager, ByAllAccounts
AQ: Your website points out that you aggregate information from financial accounts including 401k, 403b, 529, IRA, SMA, trusts, annuities, hedge funds, and off-shore accounts. Are there any differences for advisors when aggregating these assets as compared to aggregating assets held in custodian accounts?
BAA: The difference is when aggregating from custodian accounts it is usually a direct feed you are using based on an advisor relationship you have with the custodian. We are gathering data from these sites based on online access you would have to the custodian data. It could be an advisor login or investor login.
AQ: For advisors familiar with the custodian download process, does the process from ByAllAccounts work similarly for held away assets- transactions for each asset are imported into a trade blotter for posting into the portfolio accounting program?
BAA: The ByAllaccounts process is different from custodian download process in that we generally gather data from an online source using urls, logins and passwords. Like a custodian feed, we are gathering the data nightly and storing it on a secure database. Then the advisor runs an utility that pulls that data from the server and into the advisor’s environment in the form of files that are integrated into the portfolio accounting process.
AQ: Does the advisor also receive position files for reconciling the assets? Briefly explain the process for reconciling held-away assets?
BAA: Yes one of the files that is produced is a position file for reconciliation. This is usually used by the end system to populate a reconciliation report comparing the transactions to the positions. If there are discrepancies then the operations person would research the discrepancy using the data pulled from the site.
AQ: For advisors using an outsourced reconciliation service provider, can they still use ByAllAccounts? Explain.
BAA: Absolutely, we have partnership and integrations with many outsourced solutions and are happy to integrate with any we may have missed.
AQ: How are advisors who currently use ByAllAccounts billing on held-away assets? What advice can you give advisors about how to bill for these assets?
BAA: Most of the Advisors we work with include their held-away assets in their total assets under management when they are calculating their fee, some will include the held-away assets when doing the financial plan or asset allocation. We have two white papers on our site that go into this process in more detail: “Held Away, Not Hidden” and “Don’t Leave Money on the Table”.
AQ: Can you provide an example(s) of how advisor(s) have used ByAllAccounts to grow their business by allowing them to provide advice on held-away assets?
BAA: There are many examples, but one is Frazier Financial LLC that has been using ByAllAccounts for a little over a year with great results. As Jim Frazier, managing director for Frazier Financial Advisors, LLC commented. “My advice to fellow advisors is not to discount the immediate and meaningful opportunity that exists to grow your practice using technology such as ByAllAccounts’ account aggregation.” Read the entire article to learn more on how this firm benefitted by implementing our solution.
http://byallaccounts.com/news_events/press_releases.html?id=103
AQ: When using ByAllAccounts, do advisors need to be concerned about the “Custody Rule?”
BAA: The Custody Rule is a concern if you do not claim custody and you have access to your client’s websites where you can change the address of record and transfer assets to an unlike registration. ByAllAccounts has a service called WebPortfolio Compliance that allows the advisors to set up an account without the credentials to log on , and then give their investors the ability to enter those credentials which alleviates the risk of having custody by having access to the client’s websites.
AQ: You have an interactive ROI calculator on your website to help advisors calculate the value of using ByAllAccounts account aggregation. Explain how the ROI calculator helps illustrate the value of aggregating held-away assets?
BAA: The ROI calculator illustrates the cost savings of having the held away accounts data brought in through our service versus having someone manually entering the data from a website or statements.
AQ: Is there anything else in the works at ByAllAccounts that you would like readers to know about?
BAA: Our S.M.A.R.T Decisions series. S.M.A.R.T Decisions is an ongoing monthly educational series for Financial Advisors that we have created, designed to help advisors make smarter decisions for their practice, clients, and selves. The series is based on the experiences of financial advisors who have made smart decisions to solve problems. Each month it offers a bundle of educational material that addresses a specific problem and that you can read or watch at your own pace.
Our latest updates:
Free Whitepaper: “Leverage Your Time: The Custody Rule One Year Later”
On-Demand Webinar: “How Advisors are Using Technology Today”
Register for upcoming Webinar: “Tips and Tricks for Reconciliation” May 24th, 2:00-3:00 PM EST
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/515661179
Thanks for all the great information Karla!
For more information, please visit www.ByAllAccounts.com. The website also has a live chat feature to get your questions answered quickly. Specific questions can be directed to jshepard@byallaccounts.com,
Connect with ByAllAccounts on Twitter: @ByAllAccounts
Be sure to visit the ByAllAccounts Blog for more educational content on practice management, marketing, social media, technology, regulation & compliance, and more!
COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION
ByAllAccounts Inc.
10 State Street
Woburn, MA 01801-6820 USA
(781) 376-0801
www.ByAllAccounts.com
