Commission management system

• US 7,769,658 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2009
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ConvergEx Group LLC (Toronto-Dominion Bank)
• Original Assignee: BNY ConvergEx Group LLC (Toronto-Dominion Bank)
• Inventors: Murtaugh, Jeanne L., Pricoli, Paul A., Ruebenstahl, Kevin, De Laforcade, Michael Will
• Primary Examiner(s): Khattar; Rajesh
• Application Number:
  US12/437,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216670A1
• Time in Patent Office: 453 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

The present invention relates to a commission management system and method for managing soft dollar and commission recapture services over communications network. The system and method pays the invoices from the soft dollar commission account after the client views and approves invoices online.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable code for pooling and managing soft dollar commission accounts of a plurality of clients by a processor based server over a communications network, said computer executable code comprising instructions for:

providing access to said server to a plurality of client devices by a web interface module of said server over said communications network, each client device being associated with a client;

managing a plurality of investment products/services from a plurality of investment service providers by an investment services module of said server;

managing said plurality of soft dollar commission accounts of said plurality of clients by a processor of said server;

receiving by said web interface module a selection from a client device associated with a client to access one of a plurality of services offered by said server;

providing access to said investment services module to a device associated with an investment service provider to add, delete or modify an investment product/service offering by said web interface module;

crediting a soft dollar commission account of said client by said processor when a soft dollar commission attributable to said client is received from any of a plurality of brokerage firms that executed trades on behalf of said client, thereby pooling dollar commissions from said plurality of brokerage firms into said soft dollar commission account of said client;

receiving by a client invoice module of said server invoices from said plurality of investment service providers for investment products/services purchased by said plurality of clients;

notifying said client device associated with said client by said client invoice module to approve an invoice received from an investment service provider for an investment product/service purchased by said client if said investment services module determines there is no account record between said investment service provider and said client;

processing said invoices received by said client invoice module from said plurality of investment service providers by said processor if said investment services module determines that said investment service provider has an accounting record associated with said client or if an approval to pay said invoice was received by said client invoice module from said client; and

authorizing payment of said invoice received from said investment service provider for said client if there is sufficient balance in said soft dollar commission account of said client.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for establishing an account record between said investment service provider and said client by said investment services module when said client invoice module receives said client approval to pay said invoice received from said investment service provider.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for

connecting said client device associated with said client to said investment services module by said web interface module if said client selects to subscribe to an investment product/service;

and

presenting a list of investment products/services available from said plurality of investment service providers on said client device associated with said client by said investment services module.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 3, further comprising instructions for:

receiving by said investment services module a purchase selection of an investment product/service from an investment service provider purchased by said client;

notifying said investment service provider by said investment services module that said client has selected to purchase said investment product/service of said investment service provider; and

establishing an accounting record between said investment service provider and said client by said investment services module if said investment services module determines that there is no accounting record between said investment service provider and said client.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4, further comprising instructions for:

presenting an existing contract of said investment service provider to said client device associated with said client by said client contracts module; and

receiving, scanning and storing executed contracts from said plurality of investment service providers or said plurality of clients.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, further comprising instructions for:

connecting said client device associated with said client to said client contracts module by said web interface module if said client selects to view, upload or download executed contracts;

presenting said executed contract selected by said client for viewing on or downloading to said client device associated with said client by said client contracts module over said communications network; and

uploading said executed contract selected by said client to said client contracts module from said client device associated with said client over said communications network.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 5, further comprising instructions for notifying said client device associated with said client by said client contracts module when an executed contract of said client needs to be renewed or has terminated.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for:

connecting said client device associated with said client to said client invoice module by said web interface module if said client selects to view or approve an invoice;

presenting said invoice for viewing by said client invoice module on said client device associated with said client; and

requesting the approval to pay from said client by said client invoice module if said invoice requires approval from said client.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for:

generating soft dollar commission statements for said plurality of clients by a client statement module of said server;

connecting said client device associated with said client to said client statement module by said web interface module if said client selects to view a soft dollar commission statement; and

presenting said soft dollar commission statement for viewing by said client statement module on said client device associated with said client.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for interfacing with a separate commission or accounting system to extract information by said client statement module to generate said soft dollar commission statements for said plurality of clients.

11. A server for pooling and managing soft dollar commission accounts of a plurality of clients over a communications network, comprising:

an investment services module to manage a plurality of investment products/services from a plurality of investment service providers;

a web interface module to;

provide access to said server from a plurality of client devices over said communications network, each client device being associated with a client;

receive a selection from a client device associated with a client to access one of a plurality of services offered by said server; and

provide access to said investment services module from a device associated with an investment service provider to add, delete or modify an investment product/service offering over said communications network;

a client invoice module to;

receive invoices from said plurality of investment service providers for investment products/services purchased by said plurality of clients; and

notify said client device associated with said client to approve an invoice received from an investment service provider for an investment product/service purchased by said client if said investment services module determines there is no account record between said investment service provider and said client; and

a processor to;

manage said plurality of soft dollar commission accounts of said plurality of clients;

credit a soft dollar commission account of said client when a soft dollar commission attributable to said client is received from any of a plurality of brokerage firms that executed trades on behalf of said client, thereby pooling soft dollar commissions from said plurality of brokerage firms into said soft dollar commission account of said client;

process said invoices received by said client invoice module from said plurality of investment service providers if said investment services module determines that said investment service provider has an accounting record associated with said client or if an approval to pay said invoice was received by said client invoice module from said client; and

authorize payment of said invoice received from said investment service provider for said client if there is sufficient balance in said dollar commission account of said client.

12. The server of claim 11, wherein said investment services module establishes an account record between said investment service provider and said client when said client invoice module receives said client approval to pay said invoice received from said investment service provider.

13. The server of claim 11, wherein said web interface module connects said client device associated with said client to said investment services module if said client selects to subscribe to an investment product/service;

and wherein said investment services module presents a list of investment products/services available from said plurality of investment service providers on said client device associated with said client.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein said investment services module receives a purchase selection of an investment product/service from an investment service provider purchased by said client, notifies said investment service provider that said client has selected to purchase said investment product/service of said investment service provider, and establishes an accounting record between said investment service provider and said client if said investment services module determines that there is no accounting record between said investment service provider and said client.

15. The server of claim 14, further comprising a client contracts module to present an existing contract of said investment service provider to said client device associated with said client, to receive, scan and store executed contracts from said plurality of investment service providers or said plurality of clients.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein said web interface module connects said client device associated with said client to said client contracts module if said client selects to view, upload or download executed contracts;

wherein said client contracts module presents said executed contract selected by said client for viewing on or downloading to said client device associated with said client over said communications network; and

wherein said client device associated with said client uploads said executed contract selected by said client to said client contracts module over said communications network.

17. The server of claim 15, wherein said client contracts module notifies said client device associated with said client when an executed contract of said client needs to be renewed or has terminated.

18. The server of claim 11, wherein said web interface module connects said client device associated with said client to said client invoice module if said client selects to view or approve an invoice;

and wherein said client invoice module presents said invoice for viewing on said client device associated with said client and requests the approval to pay from said client if said invoice requires approval from said client.

19. The server of claim 11, further comprising a client statement module to generate soft dollar commission statements for said plurality of clients;

and wherein said web interface module connects said client device associated with said client to said client statement module if said client selects to view a soft dollar commission statement; and

wherein said client statement module presents said soft dollar commission statement for viewing on said client device associated with said client.

20. The server of claim 19, wherein said client statement module interfaces with a separate commission or accounting system to extract information to generate said soft dollar commission statements for said plurality of clients.