Debate over online account access: Includes Chart

Adds an Assante Corp. advisor in Ontario: “The firm just launched online client account access last November, but many advisors are reluctant to tell clients about it.”

With technology a constant expenditure for firms, it’s no surprise that the performance of online client account access was rated higher on average this year, increasing to an overall average of 7.9 from 7.4. However, in terms of importance, it rated a 7.7 — the same as last year.

Most firms offer client online account access to some degree, be it through an in-house Web site or through the product manufacturers. In fact, Manulife Securities International Ltd. , of Waterloo, Ont., is the only firm that has no client account access whatsoever.

Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. is new to offering clients online access to their accounts; the firm launched its program just last fall. To ensure advisors were familiar with the program, the firm decided to give them the first look at the program and a chance to play around with it. Once they were familiar with the program, Investors Group notified clients through their statement mailings and through advisors. But, still, advisors would prefer not to mention it.

“It really isn’t our culture because our clients rely so much on the advisor,” says an Investors Group advisor in Ontario. “I’ve only had one client ask me about it.”

With a slightly below-average performance score of 7.6, Investors Group has begun to track online usage patterns to see when clients are logging on and how they navigate the site. Kevin Regan, executive vice president of financial services, says the company doesn’t see clients logging on every day — so far. He doesn’t think advisors need to be worried about clients becoming paranoid about their investments.

“Most advisors understand that this is an extension of their relationship with clients,” he says. “It is part of the advisor’s service that if clients are online and have questions about what they are looking at, they can contact the advisor about their holdings. Whether that communication is through e-mail, a face-to-face meeting or a telephone conversation, the whole notion is we are expanding that reach and accessibility, not taking the advisor away from them.”

Toronto-based Dundee Wealth Management Inc. — which ranked third overall in the category (8.4), behind top-scoring PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. of Mississauga, Ont. (9.0) and GP Wealth Management Corp. of Toronto (8.8) — has offered online account access for years, but is constantly dipping into its technology budget to update its systems. When Dan Brintnell, executive vice president and co-head of Dundee’s retail division, joined the firm in February 2006, he was impressed by the online capability offered to clients, who can log in securely and see their entire portfolio, their allocations, the risk profile of their accounts and all past transactions.

When it comes to getting the word out about online account access, Dundee leaves it in the hands of the advisors. Respecting the fact that advisors are entrepreneurial business people who know their clients well, Dundee feels advisors can decide whether online access is something they should turn “on” or “off.”

But some advisors think accessible account information may worry those clients who pay too much attention to market ups and downs. “I’d rather them not have on-line access,” says a Portfolio Strategies Corp. advisor in Alberta. “They’d check it every day and get worried.”

But if firms are going to offer online access, it has to be good. Some advisors whose clients have online account access believe it isn’t on par with today’s technological capabilities.

“It sucks when they can see market value but everything else is hidden,” says a Partners in Planning Financial Services Ltd. advisor in British Columbia. “Clients have the right to know everything about their holdings.” IE