WO2001035313A1

WO2001035313A1 - Cell-based brokerage system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2001035313A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/041783
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kamal Mustafa; Jeremy Hill
Original assignee: Trade.Com Global Markets, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-11-09
Filing date: 2000-11-02
Publication date: 2001-05-17
Also published as: AU3640101A

Abstract

A brokerage system (10) comprising a server (12) for receiving on-line orders from a plurality of clients (151, 152, 153) and a plurality of account cells (101, 102, 103, 104, 105), each acount cell (102) having respective assigned clients (211, 216) of the plurality of clients. Each account cell includes at least one computer (220) for viewing an on-line order placed by a first of the assigned clients through the server (12), at least one telephone (219) for receiving telephone orders, an equities broker (10) for processing orders for stocks (115) over at least one equities exchange and a second professional selling financial products different than the equities processed (404) over the at least one equities exchange. Also disclosed is a method for trading equities and other financial products comprising the steps of receiving a contact from a client, determining an identity of the client, transferring the contact to one of a plurality of individual account cells as a function of the identity, the one account cell being assigned to the client. The order is received from the client within the one account cell, which processes the order.

Description

CELL-BASED BROKERAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing brokerage and other financial services.

2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Brokerage services for equities and other financial instruments to date have functioned in several ways. To buy and sell equities, for example common stocks, a client in the U.S. traditionally has engaged an equities broker at a U.S. brokerage licensed to buy and sell equities in the U.S. Examples of such traditional brokerages include MERRILL LYNCH, GOLDMAN SACHS, and SMITH BARNEY. The equities broker typically serves a client by personal or telephone contact. The client places orders to buy or sell shares in a U.S. publicly- traded stock by calling the equities broker and telling the equities broker the number of shares of stocks to buy or sell. The equities broker then purchases or sells the stock through a stock exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, or the American Stock Exchange. The equities broker also may initiate the contact and provide recommendations to the client.

If the client seeks to purchase a non-equity financial instrument or a foreign equity instrument which is not publicly traded on a registered U.S. exchange, the equities broker typically will phone or wire the order to another desk at the brokerage, which will then process the trade itself or through an affiliate institution if the brokerage is incapable of brokering the trade. Thus a client seeking to purchase corporate bonds, government bonds or foreign securities typically will have the order routed through the equities broker to a corporate bond desk, a government bond desk or an international desk at the brokerage. For example, if a client in New York with an equities broker and an account at a New York brokerage wishes to purchase shares in an Egyptian company traded only in Cairo (and does not have a personal broker or account in Egypt), the client typically will call the equities broker at the New York brokerage, who then wires or phones the order to the international desk at the brokerage, which forwards the order via phone or wire to an affiliate and properly-registered Egyptian brokerage in Cairo, which processes the order on the Cairo exchange. The route of the order also is known as "order flow". The Cairo affiliate then provides the securities to the New York brokerage in exchange for the cost of the securities and any fee. The New York brokerage typically holds the securities for the account of the client and charges a fee for the order.

The reason for use of affiliated organizations derives from world-wide securities regulations, such as the Securities Exchange Acts of 1933 and 1934 in the U.S. In general, each exchange is regulated by the rules and regulations of its own country. For example, in the U.S., stocks sold over a registered national securities exchange must be sold by equities brokers registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

As mentioned above, when a client seeks to purchase corporate or government bonds, the client also typically calls the equities broker, who will either arrange the bond purchase by phoning or wiring the order to the proper bond desk of the brokerage. Alternately, the equities broker may have the client directly speak with a bond broker at the bond desk, which then processes the order.

Due to lack of contact with bond brokers and other financial professionals and for other reasons such as being unfamiliar with non-U.S. publicly- traded equities, U.S. -registered equities brokers often shy away from recommending foreign equities or other types of financial products. Moreover, the compensation received by the U.S. -registered equities broker may not be tied to sales of such products as bonds or non-U.S. publicly-traded equities.

In finalizing various transactions in each country, each person involved usually is a properly trained and registered individual licensed to trade on a respective securities exchange. A U.S. equities broker is licensed, for example, by the SEC under section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The U.S. equities broker must pass an exam to receive the registration, which is subject to revocation should U.S. rules or regulations be violated. In addition, each firm has a strict set of rules regarding which orders may be placed by which clients. For example, only certain clients are allowed to purchase securities with borrowed money, i.e. on margin. Equities brokers typically have an office or cubical with a secretary or other assistant, and are located physically in one section of the brokerage. Elsewhere in the brokerage may be a government bond desk and a corporate bond desk, for example, or even an on-line trading desk. An equities broker at a brokerage typically may develop relationships with certain persons at other desks of the brokerage. However, the desks are phyically separate entities, and the equities broker typically has little interaction with people at other desks.

In addition to traditional brokerage services described above, many firms, such SCHWAB.COM, E*TRADE, TRADE.COM and MERRILL LYNCH permit individual investors to buy and sell U.S. stocks or bonds over the Internet. The orders are placed using an HTML graphic interface at a client computer of the client, and are sent electronically over the Internet to a server of the brokerage firm. An online equities broker, often unknown to the client, reviews the order for compliance, and then the order is executed through the proper exchange, often through a registered clearing agency.

As with traditional brokerage houses, many of these on-line or Internet-based services also provide the opportunity for clients to purchase government or corporate bonds and receive analysis of equities and bonds. Typically, Internet-based services have been structured so that one department performs stock trading, while another department handles bond trading, and another department performs research. Options and derivatives trading may occur in yet another separate department. SCHWAB.COM also permits international investors to purchase both US and UK securities, for example, through its web site.

To date, many smaller traditional brokerage houses have not been able to offer Internet-based services due to the high cost of purchasing, developing and maintaining the equipment and software necessary for offering such services. International brokerages often have not been offering Internet-based services, due to a lack of Internet expertise in those countries.

However, for those brokerages offering Internet-based services, the trend with these Internet-based services has been towards automation, i.e. having each trade or inquiry handled automatically with as little broker or personnel involvement as possible. This lack or minimization of broker-client contact however often leads to client complaints and poor customer service. For example, sometimes the software on web servers fails and clients are instructed to place orders via telephone. The online broker or representative who handles the complaint often has little or no personal relationship with the client. If a complaint about an equity trade or a phone order is received, the telephone call or e-mail may be directed to one of a large group of on-line equities brokers who may call up client information on a screen and review the complaint. Each client may deal specifically with one equities broker, or the brokers may be randomly assigned. Due to the rise of international markets and the diversification of financial products, as well as the rise of the Internet, individuals have more and broader opportunities to invest in all types of financial instruments. However, because of the need for specialists including licensed professionals required for certain markets, customer service for these diversified products is often neglected. The client typically has no personal connection to anyone other than the equities broker, who is often overwhelmed by the need to provide increasingly diverse information and services to clients.

Summary of the Invention An object of the present invention is to provide a brokerage system which permits a plurality of investors to obtain customized financial services. Another alternate or additional object of the present invention is to provide a brokerage system and method which permits on-line trading while maintaining customer service. The present invention provides a brokerage system including at least one server for accepting on-line orders from a plurality of clients and including a plurality of account cells, each account cell having assigned clients of a plurality of clients. Each account cell includes at least one computer for viewing a first on-line order placed by a first of the assigned clients through the server, at least one telephone for receiving telephone orders, an equities broker for processing orders for publicly- traded equity securities over at least one registered exchange and a second professional for selling financial products different than the publicly-traded equity securities.

An equities broker as defined herein is a person licensed in his or her respective jurisdiction to sell equities over the at least one registered stock exchange for the account of others. The terms "exchange," "equity securities" and "security" are defined herein to be the same as the definitions in Section 3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. The term financial products as defined herein includes securities and, to the extent not covered by the term securities, also includes private placements, annuities, insurance, bonds and high-priced luxury items with a value in excess of $25,000.

The cell-based brokerage system of the present invention permits an equities broker and another professional to work closely together as a team servicing the same clients. More team members may be added to expand the cell as needed. The customer thus always deals with a specific cell devoted specifically to his or her needs, the cell having at least two professionals having skills in different areas, each of whom may become familiar with the client.

Preferably, the equities broker is an on-line broker who receives the majority of orders through the server of an on-line trading system, such as that disclosed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/143,738, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

Preferably, the account cell includes a third professional specializing in products different that the equities broker and the second professional. As the account cell expands, detailed customer service provided by other professionals for a wide variety of financial products may be achieved. The need for the equities broker to coordinate and arrange for services in a variety of financial fields dissipates.

While a virtual account cell connected by dedicated lines and computer interfaces may be conceivable, in a most preferred embodiment, the cell is a continuous physical location, where the equities broker and the second professional are located in the same space to aid in exchange of information and ideas between the equities broker and the other professionals. Moreover, all of the professionals in the cell may act as customer service representatives for certain inquiries should another be busy, because all of the members of a cell are dedicated to a particular client. In traditional arrangements, typically only the equities broker knows and is familiar with the client. For example, if a client calls about information on a certain stock, and the equities broker is busy with another client, the client may be transferred to the other properly licensed professional in the cell, who likely already has a personal relationship with the client. Rather than being told that the equities broker is unavailable, the client is able to speak with a known professional, who may or may not be professionally able to actually service the client's call.

Preferably, each cell can service up to 2500 clients, and is supervised by a staff of inter-cell employees. The inter-cell employees preferably include a supervisor for measuring commissions and activities of each account cell and providing information to the cells as to the performance of the entire cell. In this manner, the account cell teams may compete against each other in increasing sales and commissions on a variety of products. While this competitive feature may appear minor, it actually can permit large enhancements in performance and motivation, especially in a single physical location cells. Rather than monitoring the performance of individuals, the cell is monitored, so that cell employees work together in increasing revenue and developing new ideas. The ideas of a particularly successful cell can then be quickly transferred to the rest of the plurality of cells. Preferably, the equities broker is a licensed U.S. equities broker who trades equities, i.e. equity securities, over at least the NYSE, AMEX and the NASDAQ. The second professional may be for example: (1) a licensed government bond trader; (2) a broker licensed to sell and trade equities on a foreign market; (3) a salesman or broker for private equities, such as pre-IPO equities and private placements; (4) a licensed municipal bond trader; (5) a person having the same licensing qualifications as the equities broker but also selling the different financial products; or (6) an insurance salesman.

In another preferred embodiment, each account cell further includes a plurality of customer service representatives who provide account information and technical support, verify trades and answer general questions. Preferably, the cell-based structure includes cells both for individual customers of the cell-based brokerage and also cells for clients of affiliate institutions. The cell-based brokerage thus may "co-brand" its services to other institutions, generating efficiencies of scale. And each cell may be customized for the specific clients. As an example, a first set of cells may be dedicated to a brokerage service provided over the Internet or by phone directly by the cell-based brokerage. Potential clients of the cell access a web page or phone a customer service number of the cell-based brokerage, are asked to provide information on the types of services they desire, and are signed-up for the service. Based on the information they provide, they are assigned to one of the specific cells. For example, clients may be assigned to a cell as a function of individual wealth, amount of money deposited, types of services desired, language, nationality, address and/or the number years until retirement. A German-speaking client for example wishing to trade U.S. and German equities can be assigned to a cell which provides a U.S. equities broker, a German-speaking customer service representative and a German equities broker. The cell additionally may have, for example, a German bond specialist. Even though the German-speaking client has expressed no desire to trade German bonds with the service, the hope for the cell will be to sell the client German bonds as well once a relationship with the cell-members has been established. The server of the system preferably stores in a database, such as a relational database, information on each of the cells as well, and the clients may be assigned to the cells as a function of this information. The information can include, for example, language capabilities of each cell member, trading capabilities or qualifications, and any specifical abilities, such as experience handling wealthy individuals.

Thus a truly diverse and highly specific cell-structure can result which assigns direct clients of the cell-based brokerage to a cell which as closely as possible fits their individual needs.

In yet a further preferred embodiment, the brokerage system may further include international cells for servicing international institutions and clients already having a relationship with the international institutions. The international cells may have only one person, and may or may not be account cells. With an international cell, the primary broker can remain seated in the international institution and the international cell provides services such as sales of equities or other financial products not offered by the primary international broker. Likewise, service cells which also may or may not be account cells may also be provided for already- existing domestic brokerages, and may service a primary broker at the domestic brokerage. The service cells also provide services such as the sale of equities or other financial products not offered by the primary broker at the domestic brokerage. The international cells and service cells combine with their primary broker to form virtual account cells, where a primary broker sits at the international or domestic institution and the second professional sits in a respective international or service cell at the cell-based brokerage. The primary brokers clear their own trades through their respective institutions. The international and service cells may be similar to those service cells disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Application No. 09/487,438 entitled "Method for Providing On-Line Brokerage Services to Institutions" filed on even dated herewith and hereby incorporated by reference herein.

The cell-based brokerage system offerings can be accessed through a broad range of electronic gateways, including the Internet, touch-tone telephone, online service providers, personal digital assistants, facsimile, and live brokers/customer service representatives.

In a preferred embodiment, each cell comprises an account executive (senior broker), a junior broker, and three customer service representatives.

By assigning customers to an individual cell, the system of the present invention provides the customers with individualized attention, assistance and service. Members of each cell have received specialized training in financial products, brokerage operations, company policies and procedures, and basic telephone and clerical skills to ensure a high level of service to the customer. Each cell can handle multiple accounts and can market additional incremental products.

The cell-based system preferably has a call center with advanced call handling capabilities. The call center provides automated answering, directing of data while the customer waits, and the capability to exit the voice queue system. The call center also allows linkage between caller identification and the customer database to give the assigned cell immediate access to the customer's account data at the time the call is received. This telephone system ensures optimal call-handling efficiency and enhances the customers' experience when calling for services, particularly during periods of heavy market activity.

Preferably, a cell has an empty seat for a variety of temporary third professionals, such as an insurance salesperson employed by the cell-based brokerage or a luxury item sales person. Each call can be routed through the third professional when that person is visiting the cell. The present invention also provides a method for trading equities and other financial products comprising the steps of: receiving a contact from a client; determining an identity of the client; transferring the contact to one of a plurality of individual account cells as a function of the identity, the one account cell being assigned to the client, each of the plurality of account cells including an equities broker for selling publicly-traded equity securities and at least one other financial professional for selling financial products other than the publicly-traded equity securities; receiving an order from the client within the one account cell; and processing the order.

Preferably, the method includes providing the client a web page for the order and receiving the order at a server before the receiving of the order from the client within the first cell.

Preferably, the transferring of the contact results from an SQL-based query on a relational database, the relational database having a table which matches client identification numbers to assigned cells. "Identification number" as defined herein may include any combination of letters and numbers.

The present invention also provides a method for creating a cell-based brokerage having a plurality of differently-configured cells, each of the plurality of differently configured cells including at least an equities broker for publicly traded equities and a second professional for selling financial products other than the publicly-traded equities, the cell-based brokerage system having a database of cell information on each of the plurality of differently-configured cells, the method including the steps of: receiving information from a new client; assigning the new client an identification number; assigning the new client to a cell of the cell-based brokerage as a function of the new client information and a function of the cell information.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 shows a schematized view of one embodiment of the cell-based brokerage of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows a possible configuration of one cell of the cell-based brokerage; Fig. 3 shows a possible web interface available to clients of the domestic cell of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows a trade submitted by a client to an online broker;

Fig. 5 shows a possible configuration for another cell of the cell-based brokerage;

Fig. 6 shows a possible web interface available to clients of the cell of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 shows a basic flow chart for deciding how to assign a client to a cell.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 discloses a preferred embodiment of cell-based brokerage system 10 for serving a plurality of individual clients 151, 152, 153 of the cell-based brokerage system 10. Information concerning the accounts of the clients 151, 152 and 153 is stored on servers in server bank 12. This information includes account balance, portfolio, contact and trading approval information. Cell-based brokerage system 10 includes a plurality of account cells 101, 102, 103. Each account cell has at least one telephone connected to a call center 14, which fields incoming calls and directs them to the proper cell. However, each telephone of the cell may have a direct dial telephone number as well. Each cell 101, 102, 103 also has at least one computer connected to server bank 12, for example by a 100 Mbyte Ethernet connection. Alternatively, if the server is equipped for IP telephony, the computer of each cell may have a telephone and the call center 14 may be connected directly to the server 12 and calls may be received through the server 12.

Each of the clients 151, 152, 153 is provided with an identification number and a password for accessing account information or a secure location on the server bank 12 of the cell-based brokerage 10. The server bank 12 has at least one web server for providing access to the services of the brokerage system 10. The web server is connected to a global telecommunications and information network, such as the Internet, and provides for example an HTML-based interface such as web pages for the clients.

The cell-based brokerage 10 typically will have a set of web pages stored on the web server for permitting clients to access a variety of services, such as equities trading, bond trading, purchasing private placements, buying insurance and other types of financial products. Each client 151, 152 153 may select to purchase a particular financial product over the web pages or by telephone. However, depending upon the trading approval status of a particular client, the client may be informed that trading is not possible. For example, a client who attempts to purchase an equity on margin, but is not pre-approved for margin trading, will be informed that the trade is not permissible. Fig. 2 shows an account cell 102 for selling U.S. equities and other financial products to clients 152 and 153, who are pre-assigned specifically to cell 102 when their brokerage accounts are opened. The account cell 102 includes an equities broker 215 who is licensed to process trades for stocks on a registered national securities exchange, the trades being requested by assigned clients 152 and 153. The equities broker 215 preferably is an on-line broker who receives the majority of his trades through orders entered by assigned clients 152 and 153 on the web pages of server bank 12. Account cell 102 also includes an account executive 214 who is a second professional selling financial products other than equities, such as private placement opportunities. The account executive preferably does not receive on-line trades, but preferably is licensed to sell the same equities as the equities broker 215. The account cell 102 preferably includes a secondary financial products specialist seat 216 and also includes three customer service specialists 211, 212 and 213. Secondary financial products specialist seat 216 preferably is occupied on a rotating basis by a secondary financial products specialist selling financial products different from the equities broker and the second professional. Examples of these products may include: (1) government bonds; (2) foreign equities; (3) pre-IPO equities and private placements; (4) municipal bonds; (5) luxury items worth more than $25,000; or (6) insurance.

A telephone 219 is connected via line 217 to call center 14 of Fig. 1 and a computer 220 connects via line 218 to server bank 12. Preferably each person 211, 212, 213, 214, 215 and 216 in the cell has a computer and a telephone. Computer 220 includes a display for displaying the on-line orders from customers of cell 102. Equities broker 215 may process orders for equities on a public U.S. exchange, while orders for bonds or other financial products are processed by the account executive 214. Fig. 3 shows a schematic view of a possible page or pages 400 viewed by all clients 151, 152, 153 of the on-line cell-based brokerage 10. Preferably, before viewing the pages 400, the client has accessed a general information web page of the cell-based brokerage and has registered with the brokerage by entering an identification and a password. For example, client 152 enters an identification and password, which is received in a server in server bank 12 and checked in a relational database table which determines that client 152 is assigned to cell 102.

The pages 400 include a U.S. equities trading section 401, a U.S. bond trading section 402 and an insurance section 403.

In order to purchase or sell a U.S. equity on-line, client 152 enters into predefined fields the stock symbol, the quantity, the action desired, the account to be charged or credited and the order type, and if necessary the price and the time in force. For example, client 152 inputs INTC into symbol, 100 into quantity, selects cash account, and selects buy at market. The client 152 may click on an HTML- based button 152 to process the trade. The information is transmitted to server bank 12 and can be read by equities broker 215 in assigned cell 102. The information appears on a page 405 as shown in Fig. 4, page 405 appearing on a screen of the computer of equities broker 215 in cell 102. The broker 215 then approves or disapproves the trade. If approval is granted, the order is cleared through a clearing house and confirmed to client 152, for example by e-mail. If the order is disapproved, the client 152 is informed by e-mail or telephone why the order has been disapproved.

The bond trading section 402 can function in a similar manner, except that the information would be transmitted to account executive 214, who in this example is licensed to sell for example government bonds.

The insurance section 403 can be provided for selling life insurance for example. The section 403 may include simply information about insurance, and provide for the client to request further information. A list of these requests can then be assembled in the cell 102. When an insurance salesman, who roves between cells of the cell based brokerage, visits cell 102 and sits in open seat 216, the salesman can respond to the requests for information and contact the various clients. As an alternative embodiment, it is also conceivable to customize the web pages shown to clients 151, 152, 153 as a function of the identification and password and of the personnel present in the assigned cell. The server bank 12 would determine if, for example, open seat 216 in cell 102 is filled on that day by an insurance professional. If so, the server could configure a page to be viewed by the client 152 as offering the U.S. equities section 401, the U.S. bond section 402 and the insurance section 403. While sections 401 and 402 are available at all times to the client 152, insurance section 403 preferably would be presented prominently only when the seat 216 is filled with an insurance professional. If a luxury jewelry seller was sitting in seat 216, the pages 400 could be reconfigured to prominently display a jewelry offering section at that time.

The brokerage system preferably has a plurality of account cells configured in a similar manner to cell 102, and all servicing assigned clients. In this manner, the account cells can focus on the needs of the assigned clients. Preferably, each cell has fewer than seven persons.

A detailed example of possible qualifications of personnel 211, 212, 213, 213, 214 and 215 can be understood from the following exemplary description:

EXAMPLE

The account executive oversees the cell, solicits new accounts, and provides clients with additional financial product opportunities, such as private placements in private companies. The online broker functions as the primary broker for all online accounts. The customer service specialist may handle all general customer inquiries, which typically represent 90% of all incoming calls.

The cell provides the client with a dedicated broker (the account executive) for the client's traditional brokerage needs and an online broker for additional varied issues that arise as a result of trading online and also provides general customer service. The cell preferably is located in a single office or cubicle so that each member of the cell is aware of the activities of each member of the cell, Each cell may handle up to 2500 accounts. The cell employees in an exemplary embodiment may have the following qualifications: Customer Service Specialist ("CSS")

The CSS typically has a bachelor's degree, and preferably has passed the U.S. Series 7 & 63 exams, which are provided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to register the CSS as a broker. His or her responsibilities include furnishing cell clients with:

(1) account information, such as account balances, total equity, total market value, available cash, debit balance, buying power, and a Federal, house and/or cash call; (2) positions, including stock positions, mutual funds and fixed income instruments: (3) order status, including open orders, executions of orders, cancelled orders, and rejected orders;

(4) executions /trade verification, such as price, time, quantity filled remaining

(5) current market conditions, including economic news, big movers, volume, futures, daily highs and lows, percentage up and down

(6) technical assistance, including browser upgrades, how to link accounts, change of on-line user name, change of password, view or edit personal information on-line, navigation of on-line site; and

(7) general inquiries, such as change of address, explanation of different types of investment vehicles, mailing information.

The CSS thus provides site related and technical solutions, and provides information regarding investment rules and regulations (e.g., how to get option trading approval, where to send money). If the CSS cannot handle the customer inquiry, he or she transfers the customer to the online broker. If licensed, the CSS also may process trades for clients.

If all three CSSs in the cell are dealing with customers, the online broker as well may field incoming calls. If the three CSSs and online broker are busy with customers, the account executive also will field calls.

When the online Broker receives a transferred call from a CSS, the caller has already been verified as the account holder. Before he or she picks up the transfer, the online broker will get the account number from the CSS and retrieve the account information before he or she handles the call. The CSS will also inform the online broker of the nature of the call and why the call is being transferred.

Online Broker

The online broker has a bachelor's degree and has passed the Series 7 and 63 exams. Typically he or she will have three years minimum experience in the finance industry.

The online broker's responsibilities include placing all trades, handling questions and explaining qualifiers, broker parameters and stop order conditions, providing options strategies, trading strategies, bond offerings, commission adjustments and handling verbal complaints. The online broker also manages execution issues and inquiries, including time and sales, relevant market conditions and the bid/ask disparity.

In general, the online broker's responsibilities are to handle more in-depth questions, provide a supervisory role for the CSS, make commission adjustments, and provide coupons to customers to appease them when problems. Online brokers are able to handle all functions of a CSS. In addition, they possess the ability to take trades and offer general advice to a client.

Account Executive

The account executive has at least the same qualifications as an online broker. The responsibilities of the account executive include developing relationships with the cell clients and selling the clients products based on this relationship. The account executive sells proprietary-type products, such as participation in IPOs, private placements, and fixed income products such as bonds. The account executive also may offer specialized services and future promotions, determine asset allocation and handle over- flow in instances of unusually high volume or activity. The account executive's responsibilities may include developing a relationship with the client, contacting interested and qualified customers when the cell has investment or buying opportunities, and performing all the duties of the CSS and the online broker if necessary.

In this example, there may be several cells all staffed in a similar manner. Then, between the cells may be provided inter-cell employees, who may include a floor manager who coordinates four cells, a manager of the online brokers and a manager of the account executives. The floor manager can schedule work hours, provide for staffing in the event of sickness or vacation, and informing the cells of their respective performance with regard to the other cells underneath the floor manager.

While the cell-based brokerage typically will have a single URL for providing access to the on-line trading services of the brokerage and all of the account cells will have the same structure, it is conceivable that each client, for example, may access the server bank 12 through a web page with a different specific URL, with each URL being services by a particular set of customized account cells. As an example which may not be permissible under current securities regulations but may become possible in the future, client 151 may speak Italian and be provided a URL to contact on the web server for a web page which is in Italian, for example. Client 151 could then be assigned to cell 101. As shown in Fig. 5, cell 101 could comprise two customer service representatives 111 and 112 who preferably are fluent in Italian, an Italian bond specialist 113 for buying and selling Italian bonds, an Italian equities specialist 114 for buying and selling Italian equities, a U.S. equities specialist 115 , and an open chair 116 for rotating salespersons. Each person 111, 112, 113, 114, 115 and 116 has a telephone connected to call center 14 through line 117 and a computer connected to server bank 12 through line 118.

While securities regulations in the U.S. and in Italy may not permit such a configuration at present, regulations are change in the financial field and such a configuration may be possible in the future.

Client 151 thus would access through a specific URL a web page in Italian. To access account or other private information and to trade financial products, client 151 enters an identification and password. A server in the server bank 12 verifies the identification and password and can receive real-time information on the account of client 151 from an affiliate Italian institution 112 through communications line 125. However, alternatively, the brokerage system 10 may offer a brokerage service in Italian directly to the client 151. The server bank 12 also stores information on the cell assignment of each client. Thus the server identifies client 151 as assigned to cell 101. This assignment may be stored in a relational database table created in a relational database, such as SQL SERVER, sold by the Microsoft Corporation. The table relates each customer identification number to a cell number.

Once verified, client 151 could trade, for example, on-line through the Italian language web pages. For example, client 151 can trade Italian securities and bonds and U.S. securities.

Fig. 6 shows a simple example of a page 300 which client 153 may view after entering a valid identification and password. Page 300 may have an Italian equities section 301, a U.S. equities section 302 and an Italian bond section 303, which corresponds to the direct offerings of the cell. Client 153 wants to purchase, for example, 100 shares of Intel through the NASDAQ at market, so he or she enters the symbol INTC and 100 shares and clicks on a hypertext MARKET and BUY. The trade information is then sent to cell 101, reviewed by U.S. equities specialist 115 and sent to a clearing house or market maker for processing. If the client 153 does not have his or her account with the cell-based brokerage, but rather with institution 112, a real-time database at institution 112 is updated. The database connects via a secure communications line 125 respectively to server bank 12. The database stores information on the respective client accounts at institutions 112, such as account holdings, account balance, trading restrictions on such activities as margin trading, account history, and contact information. The communications lines may be for example Tl lines and transmit information using an IP- or ATM-based communications system with public/private key encryption, such as those available from the RSA Inc.

While certain regulations of different countries (as with Italy or the U.S. in the example above) may not permit at this time for certain combinations of offerings, the cell-based structure of the brokerage provides flexibility to allow different combinations of professionals and services as they become legally permissible. Since regulations are changing rapidly in the financial field due to increasing globalization, the ease and quickness in adding account cells to provide newly permissible services is highly advantageous.

Fig. 7 shows a flowchart for the possible assigning new clients to existing account cells, especially when different types of account cells are provided . In step 501, a new client calls call center 14 or accesses a web page in server bank 12. Preliminary client information, such as the types of services desired, a preferred language, asset amount, income, address, phone number, and e-mail address is received and entered into a databank accessible by server bank 12. Information regarding each cell then may be searched at step 502. As a function of the cell information and the client information, the client is assigned to a cell in the cell- based brokerage 10.

An example of this process maybe as follows:

A potential client enters a web site of the cell based brokerage and clicks on an HTML button for registration. A form is provided to the potential client, in which he or she enters an e-mail address, selects a preferred language (a choice of which can be limited to already existing languages available from existing cells, for example, Italian, German or English), selects a country of citizenship, selects a present income range, selects an amount range he or she wishes to deposit to start an account at the brokerage, and selects the services desired, such as trading of U.S. equities and U.S. bonds. In this example, the potential client enters a U.S. citizen speaking English with an income of $50,000 per year, wishes to deposit $5,000 and seeks to trade U.S. equities.

A search of cells 101, 102, 103, etc. would determine that cell 102 provides English language services and trading of U.S. equities and has fewer than 2500 accounts, so that its capacity is not full. The new client is assigned to cell 102. An identification number and password can be provided the new client. A customer service specialist at cell 102 can phone or mail the new client any further information needed to open the account.

In this manner, new clients can be assigned to new cells providing services desired by the client. If all qualifications for the client cannot be found in a single cell, the cells may be selected by simply choosing the cell meeting the most number of qualifications. Alternatively, factors such as language may be weighted more heavily than other factors in determining the cell assignment.

When the cell-based brokerage comprises a single type of cells, such as cell 102 described above, the new clients can be assigned randomly as well.

The term "on-line order" as used herein is defined as an order processed over a telecommunications network such as a WAN, LAN or the Internet. "Internet" as defined herein is a global IP -based communications network. "Web server" as defined herein is a server computer which provides and accepts data over the Internet.

Example of equities traded over publicly-registered U.S. exchanges include the stocks of the following companies: AT&T, AOL, Bell Atlantic, Cisco, CocaCola, Compaq, Dell, Disney, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Home Depot, Intel, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Lucent, Merck, Microsoft, Pfizer, SBC and WalMart. Examples of bonds, which are not traded on a public-equities exchange, include 3- month, 6-month, 10-year U.S. treasury bills, and the 30 year U.S. treasury bond. Other examples of financial products not traded on a public-equities exchange include oil and other commodity futures, SWAPs, foreign currency derivatives, CDs, and other securities not required to be registered under the Securities Exchange Acts of 1933 and 1934.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method for providing brokerage services comprising: providing a server for receiving on-line orders from a plurality of clients; and providing a plurality of account cells, each account cell having respective assigned clients of the plurality of clients, each account cell including at least one computer for viewing an on-line order placed by a first of the assigned clients through the server, and at least one telephone for receiving telephone orders, each account cell providing an equities broker for processing orders for publicly-traded equities and a second professional for selling financial products different than the publicly-traded equities.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the equities broker is an on-line broker for processing the on-line order and the second professional is an account executive selling bonds.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the equities broker is a U.S. registered equities broker.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the second professional is a U.S. registered equities broker and sells private placements.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein each account cell of the plurality of account cells further provides a third professional specializing in products different that the equities broker and the second professional.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the third professional sells non-U.S. equities.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein each account cell is a continuous physical location.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising providing at least one floor supervisor for coordinating activities of at least two of the plurality of account cells.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least a first account cell of the plurality of cells has first respective assigned clients, the first respective assigned clients having brokerage accounts at a separate financial institution.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising providing a dedicated telecommunications line between the at least one server and the separate financial institution.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing a call center for receiving telephone calls from the plurality of clients, the call center being connected to the at least one server.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the at least one server includes a web server for providing and accepting information from the plurality of clients over the

Internet.

13. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the at least one server includes a relational database having a table assigning each of the plurality of clients to one of the plurality of account cells.

14. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the equities broker is an on-line broker, the second professional is an account executive and wherein each cell further includes three customer service specialists.

15. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein each cell includes a seat for a roving financial products specialist.

16. A method of providing a brokerage services for a plurality of clients comprising: providing a plurality of account cells located in a same physical location, a first account cell of the plurality of account cells having first respective assigned clients of the plurality of clients, the first account cell including at least one telephone for receiving telephone orders and providing an equities broker licensed to sell publicly- traded equities and a second professional for selling financial products different than the publicly-traded equities, and a second account cell of the plurality of account cells including at least one telephone for receiving telephone orders and providing another equities broker licensed to sell the publicly-traded equities and providing a third financial professional for selling financial products different than the publicly- traded equities.

17. A method for trading equities and other financial products comprising the steps of: receiving a contact from a client; determining an identity of the client; transferring the contact to one of a plurality of individual account cells as a function of the identity, the one account cell being assigned to the client, each of the plurality of trading cells including an equities broker for selling publicly-traded equities and at least one other financial professional for selling financial products other than the publicly-traded equities; receiving an order from the client within the one account cell; and processing the order.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 further including providing the client a web page for submitting the order and receiving the order at a server before the receiving of the order from the client within the first cell.

19. The method as recited in claim 17 further including querying a relational database as a function of the identity to determine the one account cell.

20. A method for creating a cell-based brokerage having a plurality of differently- configured cells, each of the plurality of differently configured cells including at least an equities broker for publicly traded equities and a second professional for selling financial products other than the publicly-traded equities, the cell-based brokerage system having a database of cell information on each of the plurality of differently-configured cells, the method including the steps of : receiving information from a new client; assigning the new client an identification number; assigning the new client to a cell of the cell-based brokerage as a function of the new client information and a function of the cell information.