WO2001022341A1

WO2001022341A1 - Method for making financial investments

Info

Publication number: WO2001022341A1
Application number: PCT/US2000/040922
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthew J. Saltzman; Barbara Saltzman; Scott A. Von Kleek
Original assignee: Electronic Market Center, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-09-23
Filing date: 2000-09-18
Publication date: 2001-03-29
Also published as: AU1253401A

Abstract

This invention relates to a computer-implemented process which will allow members of the public to create, acquire and monitor a custom-designed investment program directly and simultaneously, utilizing the services of various independent investment advisors, through a unique interactive Internet system. More specifically, this process will enable individuals or other entities, desiring to create a multi-faceted financial investment portfolio, to utilize the Internet to: (1) determine the structure of the investment portfolio desired; (2) select from among a number of independent investment advisors to execute and manage the purchase, maintenance and/or sale of discrete parts of said portfolio; and (3) monitor, in real time, the status of said portfolios after the creation thereof. This unique process will enable the individual customers to make educated choices among the various independent investment advisors to create, monitor and manage discretionary investment portfolios through the use of the Internet.

Description

METHOD FOR MAKING FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Provisional Application No. 60/155483 filed

September 23, 1999.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of Invention The present invention generally relates to interactive computer systems, such as interactive websites on the Internet. In particular, the invention relates to a process for creating, acquiring and monitoring portfolios of financial investments over a distributed computer network, such as the Internet.

2. Background of the Invention

Commercial sites on the Internet (in particular, the World Wide Web) engaged in the sale of financial securities are known. Typically, such sites consist of a static relationship between the site host and the potential customer, wherein the customer selects a financial security to purchase and issues electronic instructions to the site host to implement such transactions. Personal and payment information are entered by the customer prior to the completion of the purchase, normally through non-electronic mechanisms such as paper forms or standing instructions tied to a customer's account. There is no other direct interaction between the customer and the website, and the choice of the financial security, whether it be an individual stock or a share in a mutual fund, for example, cannot be modified or adjusted in any way by the customer.

Such sites are not well suited for the investor who wishes to create and acquire a financial investment portfolio specifically designed for his or her personal investment requirements and goals. The known commercial websites are interactive only to the extent that an investor is able to choose a particular financial security for purchase or sale and to have payment deducted from an existing pre-established account. Such websites include so-called "investment" sites such as (DLJ Direct, Charles Schwab) in which investors may purchase shares in pre-packaged mutual funds that have predetermined objectives (for example, "large cap funds" or "small-cap funds") but are not specifically designed for the particular investor's needs or tailored to complement their other existing investments. There are no sites presently existing where the customer has the ability to input data regarding his investment requirements and existing assets and have the site host respond with: (1) advice as to the nature and parameters of a recommended investment portfolio responsive to the investor's needs; (2) recommendations as to independent investment advisors specifically capable of providing financial products suitable to the investor's requirements; and (3) on-going monitoring and real-time access to the investor's investments performance.

Thus, there exists a need in the art for a dynamic and interactive computer-implemented system (the "System") which is capable of (1) receiving data from a customer regarding his financial investment needs and goals; (2) analyzing said data and preparing and presenting to said investor a proposed investment program to achieve said goals; (3) providing said investor with recommended financial investment advisors who possess expertise in the discrete segments of the proposed investment program; (4) providing means to permit the investor to interact with each such independent investment advisor chosen by the investor; and (5) providing the investor with means to allow him or her to monitor and update the chosen investment program in real time after it has been acquired by the investor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention solves the existing need by providing an embodiment of a System by which an investor can create, acquire, maintain and monitor a financial investment portfolio with the assistance and cooperation of professional investment advisors employing only the electronic data systems available through the use of public or private computer networks, such as the Internet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an interactive computer- implemented system in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system in accordance with the present invention is shown in fig. 1. Fig. 1 discloses an interactive computer-implemented system, such as a site on the Internet or World Wide Web, where a Customer can enlist and utilize the services of expert independent investment advisors to create and acquire a financial investment portfolio which is designed to meet the investor's personal needs and goals. Although not shown, the present embodiment can also be utilized where desired with various other types of networks, such as internally on a local area or wide area network, over any publicly accessible system, over any private system or on a stand alone system, as examples. As will be described in detail herein, the Customer preferably can engage in an interactive information and data exchange with the computer system, or computer to computer exchange as appropriate, to provide the system with the necessary information about the investor's present and future needs and objective of financial investing. The terms "computer" and "computer system" as used herein should be broadly construed to cover any device or group of devices having processing capabilities, such as conventional personal computers, hand held devices, cellular phones including, where appropriate, any desired arrangement of associated devices, such as a key board, mouse and/or a display terminal, as examples. The computer system in the present embodiment is preferably designed to elicit information from the customer in response to certain preprogrammed questions. This interactive program is designed to combine a number of application tools to obtain information from the customer about his or her financial investment needs or goals. The information is then analyzed to provide specific investment recommendations to the investor for the purpose of creating, acquiring and monitoring a financial investment portfolio. In this process, the expertise and experience of professional investment advisors can also be utilized, and with the data concerning which being incorporated in the interactive program and accessed through the system. The investor can, through the use of the computer system, ask questions directly to financial professionals who can respond to the investor in real-time. Thus, the Customer can, through the use of a single interactive computer program, obtain a cohesive, inclusive and multifaceted investment plan from a number of professional expert investment managers.

Fig. 1 illustrates a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 1 is disclosed a System 100 comprising an interactive, automated, computer-implemented system for creating and acquiring a financial investment portfolio, which is designed to meet the personal needs and goals of the Potential Financial Investor. The System 100 of this embodiment preferably comprises a number of discrete but interrelated subsystems and services that are integrated to operate together and dependently to provide a single total system, allowing the customer to create, acquire, maintain, alter, modify, amend, update and track the desired investment portfolio. The various subsystems and services as will be described in detail herein can comprise one or more computers or other processing devices and communication between the various subsystems and services can occur over any desired communication link, such as between a logical and/or physical separation between the various subsystems and services. In instances where there is a physical separation, communication can be made, for instance, over any wireless medium, for example, radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR) signals, over any wire medium, such as over a junction wire comprised of copper, as an example, in embodiments where various subsystems and services are provided in the form of an integrated circuit and or in a single computer, over standard telephone lines, 110 volt AC power line (PLC), twisted pair (TP) cable, fiber optic cable or coax cable, as examples, in embodiments where one or more of the various subsystems and services are provided in separate computers, or over any desired combination. Also, the data transmitted between the various subsystems can be provided in any desired format, such as analog, digital or combination of analog/digital. Although not shown, in other embodiments, one or more of the various subsystems and/or services can be combined and/or deleted where desired. In the present embodiment, the System 100 preferably comprises the following segments of subsystems and services:

A. Financial Advisor Service

B. Electronic Network and Delivery Service

C. Profiler Service and Electronic Gathering Subsystem

D. Optimizer Subsystem E. Policy Generation Subsystem and Policy Management Subsystem

F. Contracts Management Service

G. Translation System

H. Record Keeping Subsystem I. Funds Transfer Service J. Trading Subsystem

K. Performance Subsystem L. Security Subsystem

The System's segments will be more particularly and specifically described in the following paragraphs with reference to fig. 1.

A. The Financial Advisor Service 1 is preferably comprised of electronic databases, document and data repositories containing data definitions and storage for content, quantitative and qualitative description, rules and information for defining values and characteristics of the investment management community. The Financial Advisor Service 1 has stored therein for retrieval and analysis the relevant data regarding the investing characteristics, philosophies, experience, and other pertinent data relating to each of the professional investment managers 53 who are participating in the operation of the System 100. The number and quality of professional investment managers who may be included in the system's operation are limited only to the storage and operational capacity of the equipment employed. This permits the selection and use of those investment managers who are recognized as the best in their various fields of investment expertise. The investment manager data preferably is optimized for subsequent retrieval, presentation and analysis. The information contained in such databases and document repositories in this embodiment is created and defined dynamically by automated information gathering technologies, industry standard and proprietary calculations, qualitative and quantitative analysis provided by internal staff, and general presentation, graphics, text, video, audio and other such materials produced by the investment managers, creative artists and/or internal staff or other such content.

B. The Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2 is responsible for the communications, formatting and delivery of all content and interaction of the system to the Investor Segment 20. Potential and current investors shown as customers 52 preferably can interact with the system through a number of electronic mechanisms including but not limited to the public and private networks such as the Internet, standard World Wide Web presentation formatting techniques including HTML, DHTML, WML/WAP, XML, etc., Internet browsers, Java based applets and applications, other dynamically installable applications, general computer applications and other such mechanisms. The infrastructure services in the present embodiment will dynamically adapt to correctly interface with the customer's delivery mechanism without requiring a priori knowledge of the type of mechanism or customer input. In addition, the format and content of such delivered material will preferably be transposed to a presentation as appropriate to the distribution mechanisms and any partner channel distribution. This transmogrification includes the service's content and "look and feel" customized by a number of methods not limited to customer identity as authenticated by the Security Subsystem 44, the channel, customer segment as defined by the channel or channel defined rules, and customer preference. Channel Administrators 54 define the "look and feel" of the presentation through the Internet to World Wide Web and similar standards by defining colors, graphics, placement, interface and communications flow, as well as content and other such materials. In the present embodiment, the customer 52 interacts with the system through a channel 3 comprising a secure communications link provided by the Security Subsystem 44 for sensitive information. Channel 3 includes public and private networks with facilities that support encryption, authentication and non-repudiation through such tools as digital certificates, bi- directional transport layer security/secure sockets layer, hardware and software encryption.

Investors can potentially have related advisors within Investor Segment 20. The System 100 facilitates the collaboration mechanisms for customers 52 to interact with financial advisors 56 through a variety of mechanisms, including on-line chat, e-mail, interactive collaboration, and shared sessions, as examples. Shared sessions and collaboration services are preferably only granted to advisors or other parties with permission from the end customer and are capable of being securely configured using the Security Subsystem 44 as a service of the channel 3. The collaboration services illustrated by communication link 4 in dotted lines provides a direct virtual connection between the customer 52 and the financial advisors 56. This connection preferably facilitates support, advice and interactive dialog through real-time or delayed interaction. Privacy and verifiable authentication is also guaranteed where desired by leveraging the capabilities also provided by the Security Subsystem 44 to prevent impersonation and inappropriate access to sensitive customer information.

C. The Profiler service 22 and Electronic Gathering Subsystem 24 are also preferably comprised of electronic databases, document repositories and applications capable of the collection and storage of data input by customers or other computer systems for retrieval, archival and analytical purposes. More specifically, each potential and current investor 52 from the Investor Segment 20 preferably retains a set of database and document repository records that collectively store information that effectively represents the requirements for an investment strategy. The customers 52 and potentially their investment managers 53 interact with the computer applications and repositories by the Profiler Service 22. In this embodiment, the customers 52 and the investment managers 53 interact with Profiler Service 22 via the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2 and communication link 5. Investment managers 53 interact with the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2 via Financial Advisor Service 1 and communication link 55. The customer 52 interacts with the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2 via communication link 3. Once the customer 52 enters the System's website or other interactive mechanism through the use of the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2, the Profiler Service 22 is preprogrammed to initiate an interactive interview sequence with the customer 52 that is designed to elicit the essential data required by the system in order to prepare an investment program tailored for the individual customer. The Profiler Service 22 dynamically creates the interactive interview session with the customer 52 based on the customer's demographics, needs, current situation, current investments, etc. Thus, the electronic databases of Profiler Service 22, document repositories and associated applications will commence asking the Customer 52 throughout the interactive interview those questions which will elicit data for deposit in its data repositories. Such questions as the Customer's age, spouse or significant other, children, income, retirement plans, financial status, financial needs, significant events, risk tolerance, current investments, etc., all of which are parameters used by professional investment managers in preparing recommended investment programs for those customers seeking to employ their services, are dynamically created by the Profiler Service 22. The Profiler Service's 22 content may be presented in a multi-lingual format and the appropriate language may be distributed to the customer 52 based on the customer's preference or predefined interface. This multi-lingual format is translated to the necessary delivery mechanism based on the type of interaction the customer has with the System 100 through the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2. The channel 3 has the ability to refine or customize certain aspects of the interactive session beyond the service presentation such as available modules, pre-populated data, generated formula data, etc. The electronic databases and document repositories create and maintain specific discrete records for each customer and potential scenarios which can be referenced, updated, modified and accessed by the System 100 for future utilization.

The Profiler Service 22 can optionally make use of the Electronic Gathering Subsystem 24 via communication link 57 to selectively interact with other public and private computer systems electronically over public and private networks using a variety of technological techniques to gather data on behalf of the customer 52, as illustrated by communication link 6. Several techniques can include commercial standard protocols such as XML, FML, OFX, etc. as well as non-standard mechanisms that may not be currently available such as generic computer output parsing. The results of data gathered may be used by the profiler service 22 to ease the interactive dialog with the customer. In the present embodiment, the Customer 52 must approve use of and provide data as needed by the subsystem to facilitate such electronic gathering services. Once the requisite data is obtained from the Customer 52 and stored in the electronic databases and repositories, the Optimizer Subsystem 26 is engaged via a communication link 7, which will be described in detail below.

D. The Optimizer Subsystem 26 is preferably comprised of a data repository entity and replaceable application component software modules for retrieving, analyzing or matching the customer's data in Profiler Service 22 with the investment community information contained in the Financial Advisor Service 1. In this embodiment, the Optimizer Subsystem 26 interacts with the Financial Advisor Service 1 via communication link 59 and with the Profiler Service 22 via communication link 7. The Optimizer Subsystem 26 preferably develops the most suitable financial investment plan based on the customer's current and anticipated situational needs as captured by the Profiler Service 22 by applying a set of mathematical heuristics, calculations and forecasts to the universe of investment choices described in the Financial Advisor Service 1. Such investment plans can include a portion to be allocated to the investment managers 53 via the Financial Advisor Service 1 contained in the System 100 and the allocations of resources to remain or be redistributed among other non-advisor managed programs. Once the application software programs contained in the Optimizer Subsystem 26 matches the customer data with financial community style, including style and characteristic data under the Financial Advisor Service 1, the data is preferably subjected to software programs modeling risk return sets creating a proposed investment program for presentation to the customer 52.

Employing the software programs in the Optimizer Subsystem 26 and relying on, retrieving and analyzing both the customer data in Profile Service 22 and stored data in the Financial Advisor Service 1, the Optimizer Subsystem 26 is allowed to prepare a proposed investment program for the customer 52, along with the recommended individual professional investment managers 53 to manage such programs. Thus, the Optimizer Subsystem 26 may prepare an investment program for the customer which according to the system's capabilities, meets the customer's needs insofar as allocation of assets, the amount and type of investments to be made, risks generally assumed by such investments, anticipated returns of such investments as calculated by historical and current market conditions, and the objective for each investment. The Optimizer Subsystem 26 preferably applies a configured set of calculations, heuristics and forecasts, including but not limited to complex regional investment and tax laws, expected and historical returns, manager past performance and risk profile, to develop a most suitable investment plan. These calculations may be reorganized and replaced as appropriate per geographical region, channel, or other necessary configurations to ensure the proper recommendations for individual customers based on rules. The Optimizer Subsystem 26 will identify a professional investment manager 53 specifically qualified to manage each segment of the recommended investment plan to the Customer 52. The customer 52 can interactively reengage the Profiler Service 22 to make changes as desired to fit a particular investment strategy with the acceptable amount of risk and returns. Additionally, current customers in the system can also reengage the Profiler Service 22 and Optimizer Subsystem 26 to make adjustments to any and all Profiler Service 22 data to recalculate a new investment plan. Current customers have the ability to accept, reject or modify the proposal by interacting with the system through a series of prompts and responses.

While the Optimizer Subsystem 26 will generate the investment plan data, it will preferably present the plan through the Policy Generator Subsystem 28, Contracts Management Service 30 and the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2, via communication links 8, 13 and 9, respectively.

E. The Policy Generator Subsystem 28 in this embodiment dynamically produces completed electronic online forms and documentation necessary to adequately and legally describe and enforce the investment strategy, allocation, rules of engagement, account maintenance, tax reporting, etc. The Policy Generator Subsystem 28 preferably produces such documentation in a manner that is consistent with the delivery mechanism and the client interaction method including any natural and legal language associated with the user's geographical region.

Once the Policy Generator Subsystem 28, in coordination with Contracts Management Service 30 (see F below), creates an enforceable managed investment program, the Policy Generator Subsystem 28 preferably passes control of the policy to the Policy Management Subsystem 32 via communication link 10. The Policy Management Subsystem 32 is responsible for the automated and manual creation of accounts via communication links 1 1 and 12, compliance rules via communication link 11 , and re-balancing of existing accounts along with periodic overall review of the policy to the user's managed assets and investment performance via communication link 15, among other tasks. The Policy Management Subsystem 32 is further used in this embodiment to periodically measure a customer's holdings with the customer's overall policy to determine if any normal adjustments are required. The System 100 in this embodiment will automatically calculate modifications such as assets allocated to independent investment managers and automatically reallocate such assets according to the investment policy. The System 100 can also support human confirmation before rebalancing a customer's assets. Additionally, in this embodiment, all specific compliance rules associated with managing a customer's portfolio, including non-automated modifications to computed investment strategies, are automatically transferred from the Policy Generation Subsystem 28 to the Policy Management Subsystem 32. The Policy Management Subsystem 32 transfers all compliance rules via communication link 1 1 to the Trading Subsystem 34. In this embodiment, the compliance rules transferred to the Trading Subsystem are passed through a Translation Subsystem 36 of rules, which incorporates computer-based algorithms to enforce any trading restrictions. The general Translation Subsystem 36 automatically translates such rules to the native computer language used by the Trading Subsystem 34. The Trading Subsystem 34 in this embodiment is also capable of interacting with the investment managers 53 in the Financial Advisor Service 1 via a communication link 61.

F. Once the Optimizer Subsystem 26 has completed its analysis and the Policy Generator Subsystem 28 has produced the presentation materials for all recommendations, the

Contracts Management Service 30, via other supporting services, preferably provides to the customer 52 all system results via communication link 9. If desired, the system results can be modified by certified representatives through the Contracts Management Service 30 and the

Policy Generator Subsystem 28, to completely suit a Customer's specialized requirements. The finalized investment program including any specialized or stylized program modifications are delivered through the Contracts Management Service 30 and accepted or rejected until a final program is approved and placed in a non-modifiable, non-reputable, electronic vault. The

Contracts Management Service 30 is responsible for tracking all modifications to documents for historical record keeping, including but not limited to the changes in content, author of specific changes, date and time of submitted changes, and other special notes. The electronic vault maintains all records of submitted and accepted changes in a non-modifiable manner. The

Contracts Management Service 30 is also responsible for the retrieval of all investment management policy statements in a manner that is non-reputable and verifiable.

Once the Customer 52 has accepted the final proposed investment program presented by the System 100, he or she preferably must acknowledge, verify and arrange to participate in accordance with the agreed upon program. Acceptance is validated by the Contracts Management Service 30 through a variety of mechanisms, including but not limited to digital signatures, other non-reputable mechanisms or non-electronic (printed and signed) delivery. G. As part of the methodology facilitating integration of complex systems and subsystems of this invention, the Translation Subsystem 36 is invoked in the present embodiment to perform transformation and complex business logic integration among divergent systems. Such translations can be computer to computer, a fixed set of multi-lingual natural language to computer, and computer to multi-lingual natural language translations. Such translations can involve complex business rules and transactions, which are defined in and carried out by the Translation Subsystem 36. These transactions may include many to one, one to many, and many to many transactions and data and language translations. Communication to the Translation Subsystem 36 is through a variety of computer to computer mechanisms generally found in the commercial technology field, including but not limited to, file transfer, message transfer, electronic mail, proprietary, RPC, IPC, fixed record, variable record, and XML.

H. In addition, in this embodiment, all necessary record keeping accounts are automatically opened by the System 100 by interfacing the Policy Management Subsystem 32 to a Record Keeping Subsystem 38, via communication link 12, as specified in the individual professional investment manager account management rules. The System's Record Keeping Subsystem 38 manages accounts by providing an automated journaling mechanism and necessary infrastructure to track individual investment transactions, including but not limited to funds received, funds withdrawn, purchases and sales, dividends, corporate actions, positions, daily balance, etc. for a variety of financial instruments including international securities and currencies. The Record Keeping Subsystem 38 preferably consists of a set of internal and external databases, business logic, financial services data feeds and supporting applications to administer and ensure the integrity of customer account information.

The Record Keeping System 38 supports all automation features necessary to support electronic construction and integrity of the system's data including the ability to open new accounts and sub-accounts, add new investment managers, and manage all transactions across multiple investment advisors 53.

I. The Funds Transfer Service 40 of the System 100 is activated by the Customer's acceptance of the proposed investment program. In this embodiment, the Funds Transfer Service 40 interacts with the customer 52 via communication link 63 illustrated in dotted lines. Once the Customer 52 accepts a proposed investment plan and his or her decision is acknowledged and verified, in this embodiment, payment or delivery of securities must be received before active management is possible. Current Investors 52 can have their existing portfolios automatically rebalanced and redistributed by the System 100 upon defining and accepting a new contract using the Profiler Service 22, Policy Generation Subsystem 28, Policy Management Subsystem 32 and Contracts Management Service 30. The Funds Transfer Service 40 ensures that the proper investment levels are transferred to the System 100 allocating the assets in accordance with the new or revised customer policy. The Funds Transfer Service 40 maintains the integrity of the System 100 by ensuring the timely receipt of funds and proper allocation of such funds to the set of professional investment managers 53 in accordance with the investment policy. Payments by the customer 52 can be made electronically or mechanically in any manner presently known and available to the financial services industry, including but not limited to Checks, Wires, ACH, ACATs or other such deposit techniques. Once the system verifies that adequate balances, payment or receipt of funds has been received, the customer's investment program is implemented preferably through an automated notification mechanism via communication link 16 to the Record Keeping Subsystem 38, and then finally to the Trading Subsystem 34 via communication link 13. In addition, the Funds Transfer Service 40 preferably alerts operational staff of improper amount, kind, receipt, or non-receipt (within a specified period) of funds for a particular customer 52.

The Funds Transfer Service 40 in this embodiment is also responsible for the automated management and tracking of funds redemption and liquidation services, which withdraw funds from the system. These withdrawals can be, for example, periodic, one time, planned or unplanned and activated by the customer, other registered fiduciary responsible party or customer service representative by using the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2.

J. The Trading Subsystem 34 in the present embodiment facilitates the purchase, sale and allocation of the various financial investment vehicles in compliance with the customer's written and approved investment plan. The Trading Subsystem 34 aggregates multiple transactions to create block orders based on professional investment manager's 53 models and then automatically re-allocates the securities back into each individual customer's set of accounts. The modeling, block aggregation and post-trade allocation mechanisms also preferably contains suitability, gating and compliance rules automatically translated from the customer's approved policy statements, such as by the Policy Generation Subsystem 28 and Contracts Management Service 30 via communication link 1 1. All proposed trades generated automatically from a professional investment manager's models or directly entered into the system by the professional investment manager 53, or advisor's trader, such as via communication link 61 , pass through the automated gating and compliance system to ensure that the proposed or executed securities transactions comply with each individual customer's investment program, thereby guaranteeing that each individual customer's account receives the proper product.

The Record Keeping Subsystem 38 in this embodiment electronically communicates all customer positions, incoming receipt of funds, fund transfers, and necessary cash position requirements via communication link 13 through the Translation Subsystem 36 to the Trading Subsystem 34. Similarly, the Trading Subsystem 34 preferably communicates all purchases and sales of financial investment positions executed by the System 100 through these electronic mechanisms to the customer's accounts.

K. Once proper asset allocation is completed, the Performance Subsystem 42 preferably allows the customer 52 to monitor positions, net asset balances and overall System performance and returns. The Performance Subsystem 42 will allow the customer to have continuous and periodic data that is continually updated reflecting the status of the Customer's financial investment program, managed, maintained and monitored by the advisory service. Thus, the customer 52 can at any time and upon his or her initiation, access his or her account to determine its current status, as well as communicate with the System 100 to obtain information of interest. The Performance Subsystem 42 via communication link 14 will provide periodic reports for either predefined or user defined periods as to the status of the customer's account and all changes made during such durations. If desired, the customer 52 will have the opportunity to communicate on an interactive basis with the System 100 to obtain information, investment advice or assistance. The Customer 52 may do this electronically through an email or electronically in real time by means of an electronic chat with an investment consultant employed by the System to respond to the customer's needs through the Electronic Network and Delivery Service 2. Periodically, the System 100 can also provide on-line advice, education and information, which may be useful to the customer 52. Once the customer has created and engaged in his or her investment program, he or she may at any time, recommence the process to change or alter the conditions under which it was created. The System 100 via communication link 15 preferably will automatically make use of the Performance Subsystem 42 and the customer's investment program managed by the Policy Management Subsystem 32 to verify that the customer's overall objectives are being followed. Any non-conforming returns outside tolerance heuristics can be identified and internal staff automatically alerted through electronic communications mechanisms.

L. The Security Subsystem 44 involves the methods and means by which the System 100 maintains the integrity of its operations to insure that the proper actions are taken to protect the interests of the customers 52, channel partner 54, financial advisors 56, and other participants and consumers engaged in doing business with the System 100. Thus, at all stages of the operation of the System 100, security provisions insure that the proper parties and proper action are taken. Secure procedures for identification, and authorization of the customer, advisor, customer support, operations personnel, etc., as well as the enforcement of proper access and preventative action, preferably is in place at each interface of the System. The security equipment and programs applicable to such operations and requirements are known and are commercially available and are combined in such a way as to make the overall System secure.

It is understood, therefore, that the present invention is susceptible to many different variations and combinations and is not limited to the specific embodiment shown in this application. In addition, it should be understood that each of the segments disclosed in the preferred embodiment all do not need to be provided where desired in alternative embodiments. It will also be appreciated that a system in accordance with the invention can be constructed in whole or in part from special purpose hardware or from conventional general purpose computer hardware or any combination thereof, any portion of which may be controlled by a suitable program. Any program may in whole or in part comprise part of or be stored on a system in a conventional manner, or remain whole or in part be provided into the system over a network or other mechanism for transferring information in a conventional manner. Accordingly, it is understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to considerable modifications, changes and adaptation by those skilled in the art, and that such modifications, changes and adaptations are intended to be considered within the scope of the present invention, which is set forth by the appended claims. The invention having been described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the same may be varied in many ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Any and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An interactive, computer-implemented system for the creation, acquisition, maintenance and modification of a financial investment program utilizing the expertise and knowledge of a multitude of professional investment advisors simultaneously on a real-time basis comprising:

a) a Financial Advisor Service comprising an electronic data base containing data regarding the investment characteristics and parameters of professional investment managers and a plurality of investment products;

b) an Electronic Network and Delivery Service for communicating with at least one of a customer, investor or advisor using public and private networks and appropriate display and data representation;

c) a Profiler Service comprising an electronic database and applications necessary for interacting and collecting data relating to investment objectives of a customer;

d) an Optimizer Subsystem comprised of data repositories containing application software for retrieving, analyzing and matching the data contained in the Financial Advisor Service and the Profiler Service to create a proposed investment program for the customer;

e) a Policy Generator subsystem and a Policy Management Subsystem comprising applications, database repositories and rules necessary to generate investment policies and manage such policies in an automated fashion;

f) a Contracts Management Service for managing the interaction, negotiation, automated tracking and retention of all investment policies allowing verifiable checking and non-repudiation of all interactions with the System;

g) a Translation Subsystem for maintaining business rules and a multifaceted set of generic translation technologies for translating data from one to another using a variety of transport mechanisms;

h) a Record Keeping Subsystem comprising applications, database repositories, rules and electronic data feeds necessary to accurately track individual investments in a completely automated manner;

i) a Funds Transfer Service for the customer to initiate, implement, pay and receive payments from a financial program devised, along with the necessary administrative functions necessary to ensure the timely processing of such transactions;

j) a Trading Subsystem for implementing the automatic verification of proper purchase and allocation of securities to be included in the financial investment program selected by the customer;

k) a Performance Subsystem to provide the customer with post-investment knowledge of the status of the investment program acquired; and

1) a Security Subsystem for insuring the integrity of the System to prevent improper disclosure or use thereof.

2. A computerized system for financial investment comprising:

one or more computers for communicating over a network, said one or more computers comprising: a) a Financial Advisor Service comprising data regarding the investment characteristics and parameters of one or more professional investment managers and a plurality of investment products;

b) an Electronic Network and Delivery Service for communicating with at least one of a customer, investor or advisor using at least one of public and private networks;

c) a Profiler Service for interacting and collecting data relating to investment objectives of a customer;

d) an Optimizer Subsystem for retrieving, analyzing and matching the data contained in the Financial Advisor Service and the Profiler Service to create a proposed investment program for the customer;

e) a Policy Generator subsystem and a Policy Management Subsystem to generate investment policies and manage such policies in an automated fashion;

h) a Record Keeping Subsystem to accurately track individual investments in a completely automated manner;

i) a Funds Transfer Service for the customer to at least one of initiate, implement, pay and receive payments from a financial program devised, along with the necessary administrative functions necessary to ensure the timely processing of such transactions;

3. A method for the creation, acquisition, maintenance and modification of a financial investment program comprising the steps of:

providing a system for financial investment accessible over a computer network by one or more customers and comprising:

a) a Financial Advisor Service comprising data regarding the investment characteristics and parameters of one or more professional investment managers and a plurality of investment products;

c) a Profiler Service for interacting and collecting data relating to investment objectives of a customer; and

d) an Optimizer Subsystem for retrieving, analyzing and matching the data contained in the Financial Advisor Service and the Profiler Service to create a proposed investment program for the customer.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the system further comprises: a) a Policy Generator subsystem and a Policy Management Subsystem to generate investment policies and manage such policies in an automated fashion;

b) a Contracts Management Service for managing the interaction, negotiation, automated tracking and retention of all investment policies allowing verifiable checking and non-repudiation of all interactions with the System;

c) a Translation Subsystem for maintaining business rules and a multifaceted set of generic translation technologies for translating data from one to another using a variety of transport mechanisms; d) a Record Keeping Subsystem to accurately track individual investments in a completely automated manner;

e) a Funds Transfer Service for the customer to at least one of initiate, implement, pay and receive payments from a financial program devised, along with the necessary administrative functions necessary to ensure the timely processing of such transactions;

f) a Trading Subsystem for implementing the automatic verification of proper purchase and allocation of securities to be included in the financial investment program selected by the customer;

g) a Performance Subsystem to provide the customer with post-investment knowledge of the status of the investment program acquired; and

h) a Security Subsystem for insuring the integrity of the System to prevent improper disclosure or use thereof.

5. An automated system for financial transactions comprising: a) a Policy Generator subsystem to generate investment policies in an automated fashion; and

b) a Contracts Management Service for managing the interaction, negotiation, automated tracking and retention of all investment policies allowing verifiable checking and non-repudiation of all interactions with the system.

6. An automated system of claim 5 further comprising a Policy Management Subsystem to manage the investment policies in an automated fashion.

7. An automated system of claim 6 further comprising: a) a Financial Advisor Service comprising data regarding the investment characteristics and parameters of one or more professional investment managers and a plurality of investment products; b) an Electronic Network and Delivery Service for communicating with at least one of a customer, investor or advisor using at least one of public and private networks;

e) an Optimizer Subsystem for retrieving, analyzing and matching the data contained in the Financial Advisor Service and the Profiler Service to create a proposed investment program for the customer.

8. An automated system according to claim 7 further comprising: a) a Translation Subsystem for maintaining business rules and a multifaceted set of generic translation technologies for translating data from one to another using a variety of transport mechanisms;

b) a Record Keeping Subsystem to accurately track individual investments in a completely automated manner;

c) a Funds Transfer Service for the customer to at least one of initiate, implement, pay and receive payments from a financial program devised, along with the necessary administrative functions necessary to ensure the timely processing of such transactions;

d) a Trading Subsystem for implementing the automatic verification of proper purchase and allocation of securities to be included in the financial investment program selected by the customer;

e) a Performance Subsystem to provide the customer with post-investment knowledge of the status of the investment program acquired; and

f) a Security Subsystem for insuring the integrity of the System to prevent improper disclosure or use thereof.