SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schwab Performance
Technologies(R) (SPT) today introduced several important new enhancements
to PortfolioCenter(R), its portfolio management system used by more than
3,000 independent investment advisor clients. These new enhancements are
designed to automate key management activities, improve data integrity and
accuracy, and enable advisors to customize technology to meet their own
unique business needs.
PortfolioCenter, in its fourth release since it was introduced in 2004,
is a powerful, scalable desktop platform built on industry-standard
Microsoft(R) SQL Server technology. The latest enhancements -- including
Smart Sets and Custom Portfolio Field -- are available through
http://www.schwabpt.com. PortfolioCenter and other SPT products are available to
all investment advisors and interface with more than 40 different custodial
platforms.
"The enhancements made to PortfolioCenter are going to have a
significant impact on the way clients use the software in their practice
and will greatly improve the efficiency of their firm's operations," said
Dan Skiles, vice president of Schwab Institutional Technology.
Smart Sets are dynamic, rule-based sets that are automatically updated
according to specific portfolio and group attributes, alleviating the need
for manual data maintenance. For example, Smart Sets can be used to help
identify taxable accounts for tax reporting, track IRA accounts with
minimum distribution requirements, identify accounts modified after any
given date, and search through client portfolios for fields with missing
data.
Another significant enhancement is the addition of Custom Portfolio
Fields. Custom Portfolio Fields allow advisors to track any data that is
not already defined in PortfolioCenter. Advisors can create custom fields
for text, dates, numbers, true/false options, and dropdown lists. These
fields can be used in conjunction with Smart Sets to further define set
membership criteria for more customized results.
Using Custom Portfolio Fields and Smart Sets together helps advisors
manage portfolio data in the way that works best for their practice. For
example, advisors can now identify closed accounts and ensure that they are
excluded from all sets, accurately track which clients get distributions
each month, and track which accounts are to be included in exports to any
system used in conjunction with PortfolioCenter.
More than 100 advisors participated in a release preview and are
already beginning to use the new features in their practice.
"Smarts Sets will save us more time than you can imagine," said Jill
Sisson of Salient Financial Corporation. "We are currently running almost
750 accounts in this master and to be able to update these accounts with
just one click of a button is a huge time saver. I expect it will save us a
half a day per month. And now, because it is so easy, I can do the update
more frequently, which will improve the accuracy of our data." (1)
About Schwab Performance Technologies
Founded in 1985, Schwab Performance Technologies is a subsidiary of The
Charles Schwab Corporation and a leading provider of portfolio management
and accounting solutions to more than 3,000 independent financial advisors
and investment managers. Schwab Performance Technologies develops powerful
portfolio management solutions to help advisors manage their practice and
service their clients. PortfolioCenter(R) and PortfolioCenter Relationship
Manager(R) are products of SPT. More information is available at
http://www.schwabpt.com.
About Schwab Institutional
Schwab Institutional, a division of Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., is a
leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for
independent fee-based investment advisors. Client assets custodied with
Schwab Institutional stood at $468 billion as of September 30, 2006. These
assets, managed by the approximately 5,000 independent advisor firms Schwab
Institutional serves, represent approximately one-third of total client
assets custodied with The Charles Schwab Corporation.
About Charles Schwab
The Charles Schwab Corporation (Nasdaq: SCHW) is a leading provider of
financial services, with more than 330 offices and 6.8 million client
brokerage accounts, 535,000 corporate retirement plan participants, 181,000
banking accounts, and $1.3 trillion in client assets. Through its operating
subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of securities brokerage,
banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual
investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer
subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, http://www.sipc.org),
offers a complete range of investment services and products including an
extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment
advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to
independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and
trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through its
Schwab Institutional division. The Charles Schwab Bank, N.A. (member FDIC)
provides banking and mortgage services and products. The company's other
operating subsidiaries include U.S. Trust Corporation (member FDIC) and
CyberTrader(R), Inc. (member SIPC, http://www.sipc.org). More information
is available at http://www.schwab.com. (1106-8141)
(1) Testimonials are no guarantee of future performance or success and
may
not be representative of your experience with the product.
SOURCE Charles Schwab
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Related links:
http://www.schwab.com
CONTACT:
Lindsay Tiles of Charles Schwab,
+1-415-713-7590, or Lindsay.Tiles@schwab.com
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