The rich will ‘trade in the shade’ for the holidays, says BJM PCS

WHEN South Africa’s rich take off for the holidays this year you can also look out for the takeoff of cellphone-driven online share trading as the ‘done-thing’ for the smart set.

The prediction comes from BJM Private Client Services, a wealth manager and adviser dedicated to meeting the needs of high net worth individuals, families and trusts.

This fast-growing contributor to the Barnard Jacobs Mellet financial services group is also an early provider of advanced real-time online trading facilities.

As such, BJM PCS is well placed to assess trends by various categories of client who are active online, including aggressive and sophisticated users of geared over-the-counter products such as Contracts for Difference (CDFs).

Hobs Mpho Mojalefa, head of dealing at BJM PCS, noted: “Traditional South African conservativism has receded this last 18 months and the most techno-enabled clients have become big converts to the concept of using the cellphone as a tool to trade anywhere any time.

“This holiday season, those at the leading edge of this trend will almost certainly ‘trade in the shade’ at Plett or maybe dial in a deal from Gstaad. They’ll certainly use the technology to stay in touch and on top of market movements.”

A big positive is affordability. Cellphones are not only convenient; they are also a low-cost trading mechanism.

Mojalefa added: “We expect technology platforms as trading and monitoring aids to gain further momentum over the Christmas break. Extended holiday periods tend to showcase the out-of-office convenience of these facilities.”

Since June, BJM PCS has offered cellphone access to its online trading and information site (mini.bjmdirect.com). Between August and October, the number of logons via cellphone jumped more than 45% and between October (the first month cellphone functionality was advertised on site) and November, links by cell rose another 40%.

Automatic alerts to clients, trade confirmations, updates and information interchange via email are commonplace at BJM PCS, an early adopter of web-based technology.

As an investment house, BJM is known for rigorous, constantly updated company and sector data and for its unique international relationship with Lehman Brothers. An information fast-track to investors was therefore seen as a way of underlining its research-based point of difference and the freshness of its data, said Mojalefa.

Today the BJM PCS website and trading platform offers:

• Fully integrated Internet systems, with access to ‘live’ client portfolios reflecting up-to-the-second positions;
• Live market information;
• Live trading at live prices;
• Detailed, bottom-up proprietary research;
• Charting facilities per share;
• SENS announcement histories per share;
• Historic financials, director dealings and company news;
• Fully integrated admin systems with CGT reports, account history, broker notes, transaction confirmations and costs;
• Information on and access to structured products, alternative investments and international offerings;
• Daily client communication on core holdings, possible short-term plays and technical calls for aggressive traders.

Mojalefa pointed out: “Features, facilities and functions expand all the time. A commitment to online tools is a commitment to constant enhancement.

“One thing does not change, however, and that is our commitment to total professionalism. We value technology for what it can do for us and our clients. But at the end of the day, we’re a thinking servant of our clients, not an unthinking slave of technology.”