Hedge Fund Focus

According to a hedge fund broker, the industry is likely to see a greater amount of smaller investment advisors.  This will certainly be a good thing for those investment advisory compliance and law firms and will increase the amount of work that state securities divisions.  Hopefully the increased fees flowing into the states will be able to help the divisions keep up with the expected influx of new advisors.

****

Interactive Brokers Sees More Registered Reps Becoming Independent Advisors

GREENWICH, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As portfolio values decline across the industry, many large brokers have decided that servicing smaller balance client accounts is no longer profitable, putting Registered Representatives with strong customer relationships in a difficult position. Many of these Registered Representatives are making the decision to go independent and become Registered Investment Advisors. Interactive Brokers has witnessed an acceleration of the trend to independence in 2009.

Over the years, Interactive Brokers has built a fully automated and efficient trade execution and clearing system that allows advisors to service accounts of all sizes at the lowest possible cost. In addition, IB offers direct market access from within a single screen offering stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds on more than 80 electronic global exchanges across 18 countries. With its ultra-low commissions and market-maker style execution and trade management tools, the IB Trader WorkstationSM provides a convenient tool for the registered investment advisor to manage a growing book of business with multiple accounts. In addition, IB’s recent S&P ratings upgrade combined with $4.4 billion in shareholder equity gives a strong indication of the safety of this technology-focused broker-dealer.

IB offers advisors a multitude of automated flexible billing methods as well as special reports tailored for an advisor client’s needs. Recognizing that RIAs are responsible for all aspects of trading and investing client positions, IB provides a client allocation tool that automatically splits trades based on a number of pre-defined methodologies as well as a portfolio re-balance tool that lets an advisor rebalance positions across all or some of their customers at the click of a button. With over 40 order types, and advanced proprietary trading algorithms such as Accumulate-Distribute, OptionPortolio, and ScaleTrader, IB offers the tools required for just about any trading style. In addition, IB offers advisors the ability to white brand its technology platform.

In providing a low-cost automated advisor platform, IB has removed many of the hurdles registered reps encounter when making the move from a brokerage firm to becoming independent. The company helps new advisors aboard with its focus on education about its services, from becoming a registered investment advisor to understanding how to allocate trades and re-balance portfolios.
About Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBG), together with its subsidiaries, is an automated global electronic market maker and broker specializing in routing orders and executing and processing trades. The company provides professional traders and investors with direct market access to stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds from a single IB Universal AccountSM on over 80 market centers worldwide. Employing proprietary software on electronic exchanges worldwide, Interactive Brokers is continuously integrating its software with a growing number of exchanges and trading venues into one automatically functioning, computerized platform that requires minimal human intervention.

Contacts
Press:
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.
Andrew Wilkinson, 203-913-1369
awilkinson@interactivebrokers.com