Boston, MA, November
12, 2005 – With industry consolidation, particularly
in correspondent clearing, introducing brokers have had to leverage
what they could capture from their clearing firm and augment additional
needs internally. Now that the market is mature, and competition
for the retail business is intense, clearing firms have started
to be much more responsive.
In this report, Aite Group evaluates the advisor desktops
of participating correspondent clearing firms and their fit with
the needs of financial institutions and RIAs. Participating clearing
firms include Pershing, National Financial, and ADP Clearing. Others
were invited but did not respond or declined participation.
“Beyond incremental functionality changes,
correspondent clearing firms are, as a whole, making the leap into
data aggregation for their customers,” says Adam Honoré,
report author and Senior Analyst in the Securities & Investments
practice at Aite Group.
Honoré adds, “In a retail market where advisors
are pressured to be more customer-focused, it is appropriate to
expect their clearing firm to have the same business model.”
Each vendor was given an extensive survey to complete
in addition to a detailed product demonstration with question and
answer opportunities. The survey contained 212 questions that focused
on the following categories:
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