Methods and systems for assisting financial services firms and their representatives

• US 20030023531A1
• Filed: 07/27/2001
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Broadridge Securities Processing Solutions LLC (Broadridge Financial Solutions Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Broadridge Securities Processing Solutions LLC (Broadridge Financial Solutions Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fergusson, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for assisting financial services firms and their representatives in efficiently managing their businesses, and in developing and maintaining strong customer service and loyalty. An integrated, preferably web based browser operated system is provided that uses one or more central databases to store customer, account, accounting, compliance, and other relevant information. Interfaces and tools are also provided for accessing the one or more central databases in a manner that is consistent with and supports how a representative actually works.

Claims

1. A system for displaying account information from two or more accounts that are stored in one or more account database, wherein each account includes one or more account items, the system comprising:

a first data structure having one or more associated links, wherein each link identifies one or more of the accounts; and

display means for displaying selected account items from the accounts identified by the one or more links of the first data structure.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the first data structure is a data structure stored on a data processing system.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein the display means displays the selected account items in a browser program.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein the account database is a relational database.

5. A system according to claim 1 wherein the first data structure, along with the one or more associated links, are user definable.

6. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a second data structure having one or more associated links, wherein one of the associated links identifies the first data structure.

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein the display means displays selected account items from the accounts identified by the one or more links of the second data structure, including selected account items from the accounts identified by the one or more links of the first data structure.

8. A system according to claim 1 wherein each account corresponds to a financial account.

9. A system according to claim 1 wherein more than one account corresponds to a particular customer.

10. A system according to claim 9 further comprising combining means for combining related account items from the more than one accounts before the display means displays the selected account items.

11. A system according to claim 10 wherein the combining means sums related account items from the more than one accounts before the display means displays the selected account items.

12. A system according to claim 9 wherein the one or more associated links of the first data structure identify at least two of the accounts that correspond to the particular customer.

13. A system according to claim 12 further comprising a second data structure having one or more associated links, wherein the one or more links of the second data structure identify at least one of the accounts that correspond to the particular customer.

14. A system according to claim 13 further comprising a third data structure having one or more associated links, wherein the one or more links of the third data structure identify the first data structure and the second data structure.

15. A system according to claim 9 wherein the one or more associated links of the first data structure identify all of the accounts that correspond to the particular customer.

16. A method for displaying account information from two or more accounts that are stored in one or more account database, wherein each account includes one or more account items, the method comprising:

providing a first data structure having one or more associated links, wherein each link identifies one or more of the accounts; and

displaying selected account items from the accounts identified by the one or more links of the first data structure.

17. A method according to claim 16 wherein the display step displays the selected account items in a browser program.

18. A method according to claim 16 wherein the first data structure is user definable.

19. A method according to claim 16 further comprising the step of providing a second data structure having one or more associated links, wherein each link identifies one or more of the accounts.

20. A method according to claim 19 further comprising the step of providing a third data structure having one or more associated links, wherein one of the associated links identifies the first data structure and another one of the associated links identifies the second data structure.

21. A method according to claim 16 further comprising the step of providing a second data structure having one or more associated links, wherein one of the associated links identifies the first data structure.

22. A system according to claim 16 wherein more than one account corresponds to a particular customer.

23. A system according to claim 22 further comprising the step of combining related account items from the more than one accounts before the display step displays the selected account items.

24. A method for providing a formatted output of selected fields of a database, wherein the database includes a number of database entries each having two or more fields, and each field having a field value, the method comprising:

identifying the database entries that have one or more fields with a field value that matches a selected query or expression; and

outputting a formatted output that includes the field value of a selected field of each database entry identified by the identifying step, wherein the formatted output is formatted as a merge document that can be read by another program with a merge capability.

25. A method according to claim 24 wherein the program is a word processing program.

26. A method according to claim 24 wherein program is a publishing program.

27. A method according to claim 24 wherein the database is an account database, and selected database entries in the account database correspond to customer accounts, each customer account having a customer name field, a customer address field, and one or more other fields.

28. A method according to claim 27 where the identifying step identifies the customer accounts that have one or more other fields that match a selected value or expression, and the formatted output includes the field value of the customer name field and the customer address field for each customer account identified by the identifying step.

29. A method according to claim 28 wherein the one or more other fields include a birth date.

30. A method according to claim 28 wherein the one or more other fields include an investment objective.

31. A method according to claim 28 wherein the one or more other fields include a security identifier.

32. A method according to claim 28 wherein the one or more other fields include a hobby or interest.

33. A method according to claim 28 wherein the one or more other fields include a net worth value.

34. A method for providing a formatted output of selected fields of a database, wherein the database includes a number of database entries each having two or more fields, and each field having a field value, the method comprising:

identifying the database entries that have one or more fields with a field value that matches a selected query or expression; and

outputting a formatted output that includes the field value of a selected field of each database entry identified by the identifying step, wherein the formatted output is formatted to print onto printed labels.

35. A method for providing a formatted output of selected fields of a database, wherein the database includes a number of database entries each having two or more fields, and each field having a field value, the method comprising:

identifying the database entries that have one or more fields with a field value that matches a selected value or expression; and

outputting a formatted output that includes the field value of a selected field of each database entry identified by the identifying step, wherein the formatted output is formatted to print be read into a personal digital assistant.

36. A method for accomplishing a stock deposit in a financial services firm having a ledger, the stock deposit being for a specified number of shares of a specified company, the method comprising:

selecting a customer account having a customer account identifier from a data processing system;

entering the specified number of shares into the data processing system;

entering an identifier of the specified security into the data processing system;

entering at least one stock certificate number into the data processing system;

generating a stock power that can be readily printed using the customer account identifier, the specified number of shares, the security identifier and the at least one stock certificate number;

creating an entry in the customer account designated by the customer account number, the entry representing the deposited stock; and

entering the stock deposit in the blotter of the financial services business.

37. A method for determining the productivity of customer referrals from a number of customer referral sources, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a customer referral source identifier for each referred customer;

determining a total number of customer referrals for each customer referral source;

determining an average of the total numbers of customer referrals for all customer referral sources; and

providing at least a visual comparison of the total number of customer referrals for a selected customer referral source against the average of the total numbers of customer referrals for all customer referral sources.

38. A method according to claim 37 further comprising the steps of:

identifying selected customer referral sources that have a total number of customer referrals that exceed the average of the total numbers of customer referrals for all customer referral sources.

39. A method according to claim 38 further comprising the step of outputting a formatted output that includes the selected customer referral sources.

40. A method according to claim 39 wherein the formatted output is formatted as a merge document that can be read by a program with a merge capability.

41. A method for determining the productivity of customer referrals to an representative or firm from a number of customer referral sources, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a customer referral source identifier for each referred customer;

determining a total dollar amount of commissions made by the representative or firm from customers referred to the representative or firm from each customer referral source;

averaging the total dollar amounts; and

providing at least a visual comparison of the total dollar amount for a selected customer referral source with the average total dollar amount for all customer referral sources.

42. A broker dealer assistance system, comprising:

an account database for storing account information, the account information for each account including a number of account holdings, a number of investment objectives and a number of documented customer contacts; and

display means for displaying on a single screen or window, or multiple screens or windows simultaneously, selected investment objectives and selected documented customer contacts for a selected account.

43. A broker dealer assistance system according to claim 42 wherein the display means also displays on the single screen or window, or multiple screens or windows simultaneously, selected account holdings.

44. A broker dealer assistance system according to claim 42 wherein the display means also displays on the single screen or window, or multiple screens or windows simultaneously, a number of personal information fields that relate to the selected account.

45. A broker dealer assistance system according to claim 42 wherein the display means also displays on the single screen or window, or multiple screens or windows simultaneously, a report generator option interface.

46. A broker dealer assistance system according to claim 42 wherein the display means also displays on the single screen or window, or multiple screens or windows simultaneously, a securities trade option interface.

47. A broker dealer assistance system according to claim 42 wherein the display means also displays on the single screen or window, or multiple screens or windows simultaneously, a deposit option interface.