In June there was NetX360 launched by Pershing LLC in Jersey City N.J. and earlier this week came the announcement of a new platform from National Financial Services LLC of Boston.
Now there is Aspire, a suite of desktop productivity applications for broker-dealers and investment advisers introduced today by Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. of Lake Success, N.Y.
Broadridge is a well-known provider of technology-based outsourcing solutions for the financial services industry.
Five modules make up the Aspire suite.
The first is a self-service portal that gives customers access to their account information, portfolios and online trading.
The “Broker” module provides trade order entry for equities, listed options and portfolio accounting.
Then there’s a separate “Portfolio Accounting” module that provides tax-lot accounting and cost-basis reporting.
There’s also a “Performance Reporting” module that can provide a view of account performance for the whole firm.
Rounding out the suite is the “Wealth Management” module with simple portfolio planning and construction tools for advisers.
The suite is built on an open architecture and can be integrated with any back office, according to a company statement. Modules may be used independently or in concert.
“Aspire reflects our mission to deliver powerful, state-of-the-art investment servicing tools that enable firms to streamline their operations and compete more effectively in today’s market,” Rob Enz, general manager of Broadridge Securities Processing Solutions-SISridge, said in the statement.
“Aspire provides all of the IT technology and support that broker-dealers and investment advisors need to offer real-time, on-demand account information, transaction processing, tax-lot accounting, reporting and reconciliation for all of their clients at an unmatched value and scale.”
For more information visit
Broadridge online.
TraderPlanet.com releases results of trader sentiment survey
Advisers might find some comfort in the results of a recent survey of independent traders and investors who use the social networking site TraderPlanet.com.
Of the more than 400 regular traders on the site who participated in the survey, more than half remained “neutral or bullish” on the outlook for the stock market, according to the survey results.
And 92% of respondents viewed “current market conditions as an opportunity and not a threat.”
Additionally, three-quarters of respondents intend to increase or maintain their number of trades in the next six months despite the heightened uncertainty and risk in the markets.
About half (52%) of the respondents said energy was the sector with the most potential for trading opportunities, followed by basic materials (37%) and technology (30%).
The most appealing investment vehicles were individual stocks, according to 49% of the respondents, followed closely by exchange traded funds (48%) and finally futures and commodities (35%). [Multiple choice question, which is why it comes out to over 100% - dh]
“As with any investor, our members are susceptible to the adverse effect we’ve been seeing in the market over the past year,” Lane Mendelsohn, founder of TraderPlanet.com, said in a statement.
“Even so, what we’re seeing is a renewed, albeit conservative, level of confidence among our members who are actively looking for new ways to educate themselves and prosper.”
For more information visit
TraderPlanet.com.