Portfolio-management tech adds some fresh functions, streamlines processing. Schwab's Performance Technologies unit plans to release a batch of enhancements to its PortfolioCenter portfolio-management system next month. Among other things, the tweaks are meant to help advisors cope with growth and better manage customized investment products.

"As advisors continue to experience exponential growth and expand the kinds of wealth management services they offer, technology will play a fundamental role in helping firms achieve scalability and maximize productivity," says Dan Skiles, v.p. of technology for Schwab Institutional.

More, faster

A fairly recent and fairly broad study by Rydex affiliate AdvisorBenchmarking says that independent advisories saw an average increase in client assets of 15% in 2006. Other studies, including one by Schwab Institutional, point to similar growth -- and some of them include extremely optimistic views of asset growth in store. But many of these reports are just as quick to mention shrinking profit margins and time-management woes as advisors struggle to keep up with compliance requirements and the increasingly complex needs of clients.

RIAs are also turning more than ever to separately managed accounts (SMAs) and, to some extent, their multi-sleeve offshoots. Schwab Institutional, which caters mainly to RIAs, is the biggest non-wirehouse SMA sponsor out there. Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, Pershing Advisor Solutions and TD Ameritrade Institutional offer SMAs as well, suggesting that having them on hand is de rigueur for RIA service agencies.

The new version of PortfolioCenter are meant to take these developments into account. Several of its new reporting features make it easier for advisors who use SMAs or design custom portfolios for their clients. Among them is a "position roll up" feature that lets advisors and their clients see the total balance in a managed account without having to itemize every position.

The new version of PortfolioCenter also includes an "Account Transfer Wizard" that lets advisors close out positions in one account and re-open them in another, automatically transferring the original cost and trade date of each lot. Skiles describes this as "a good way to ensure that the data in your portfolio accounting system is accurate."

The new features include summary performance reporting that ranges across types of accounts -- including 401(k)s and 529s -- lists them all and provides balances and performance reports to provide overviews of entire portfolios.

Schwab Institutional, a division of San Francisco-based Schwab, custodied $581 billion in client assets for about 5,500 RIAs at the end of September 2007. Schwab says that more than 3,000 "independent financial advisors and investment managers" use Schwab Performance Technologies products. -FWR

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