The Customer / Account Relationship is a subject close to my heart and also a subject which, for whatever reason is hard to grasp for some. During the past 25 years I’ve been working for various Financial, Broking, Banking, Wealth Management and Fintech providers, most of whom had fairly straightforward relationships but there were some which had some very strange ones.
For the purposes of this article, I will be using the following terminology:
- Customer – person or legal entity, which has personal details stored on the base system
- Account – an investment vehicle owned by a customer
- Customer Account Role – the role a customer plays over an account; an owner is simple, but a POA also plays the role of owner of the account, whereby a BEN plays the role of Beneficiary, so could have lesser permissions on the underlying account
A couple of “points of note“…
1) not all Customers have an account, the ones without accounts are essentially “standalone” customers, and they tend to be linked to accounts via a specific relationship rather than owning their own account; an example of this could be a Power Of Attorney, whereby you look after an account for somebody else, but don’t need an account in your own name
2) Joint Accounts ‘generally‘ do not follow the same rules as single and complex account owners; whereby the Joint Entity (with shared details) owns the account, with the actual owning customers being beneficiaries of the joint account. This has another benefit, in that each account only has ONE owner, and this is a good rule of thumb to follow when creating or migrating customer/account data
(not all joint structures follow this rule, but ‘generally’ this is the case)
3) JISA (Junior ISA) and JSIPP (Junior SIPP) are child accounts, but until the child turns 16, they are essentially owned by the parent, with the child as a beneficiary
(not all JISA/JSIPP structures follow this rule, but ‘generally’ this is the case)
4) The diagrams below use a swim-lane structure, which I’ve been using for as long as I care to remember; with the swim-lanes structured top to bottom, as Account(s), Customer/Account relationships, Customer(s) and lastly any login/online access.
5) Technically there is NO LIMIT to the number of relationships a customer can have, and over the ‘many’ migrations I have either run or have been part of, I have seen some customers with literally tens of links, with a couple of extreme customers who had north of 100 relationships (excluding Pension Trustees).
So you’re analysing the different relationships within an existing system, an upgrade or a migration, what do you look for? what do you have to contend with? does your current system cater for all the differing customer / account relationships?
Here are some examples (not a comprehensive list, but just a flavour)
Individual with One or Multiple Accounts
Customer Account Role(s):
- Mr A – Owner of Trading and ISA Accounts with Full Access
Standalone Power Of Attorney (POA) over an Individual Customer
Customer Account Role(s):
- Mr A – Power Of Attorney over Mr B, and as such Mr B’s Trading Account with Full Access
- Mr B – Owner of Trading Account with Full Access
POA with an Account, who is POA over another Individual Customer
Customer Account Role(s):
- Mr A – Owner of Trading Account-2 with Full Access; as well as Power Of Attorney over Mr B, and as such Mr B’s Trading Account with Full Access
- Mr B – Owner of Trading Account with Full Access
Standalone Third Party Authority (TPA) over an Individual Customer
Customer Account Role(s):
- Mr A – Owner of Trading Account-1
- Mr B – is a Standalone Customer (no owned accounts), as well as being Third Party Authority over Mr A’s Trading Account-1 with Partial Access
TPA with an Account, who is TPA over another Individual Customer
Customer Account Role(s):
- Mr A – Owner of Trading Account-1
- Mr B – Owner of SIPP Account-2 with Full Access, as well as being Third Party Authority over Mr A’s Trading Account-1 with Partial Access
Joint Account, Standalone Beneficiaries
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entity, as this is just for holding purposes only
- Mr B – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
* you will notice the green lines, containing “BEN” – these signify the customer to customer relationships, between the Joint Customer and the Beneficiaries (who actually own the joint account)
Joint Account, with Beneficiaries who have their own Accounts
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entity, as this is just for holding purposes only
- Mr B – Owner of the ISA Account-2 with Full Access and Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Owner of the Trading Account-3 with Full Access and Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
Joint Account with Standalone Beneficiaries and Standalone TPA
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entity, as this is just for holding purposes only
- Mr B – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mr TPA – Third Party Authority over Joint Trading Account with Partial Access
Joint Account with Standalone Beneficiaries and TPA with their own Account
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entity, as this is just for holding purposes only
- Mr B – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mr TPA – Owner of Trading Account-2 with Full Access; as well as Third Party Authority over Joint Trading Account with Partial Access
Multiple Joint Accounts, with Standalone Beneficiaries
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entities, as these are just for holding purposes only
- Mr B – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions) as well as being Beneficiary of the Joint Account-2 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Miss D – Beneficiary of the Joint Account-2 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
Multiple Joint Accounts, with Beneficiaries who have their own Accounts
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entities, as these are just for holding purposes only
- Mr B – Owner of the ISA Account-3 with Full Access and Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Owner of the ISA Account-4 with Full Access and Beneficiary of the Joint Account-1 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions) as well as being Beneficiary of the Joint Account-2 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Miss D – Owner of ISA Account-5 with Full Access and Beneficiary of the Joint Account-2 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
Pension Trading Account (PTA/SAP/SASS) – with Members and Trustees
The above structure highlights a Pension Scheme (sometimes called a Pension Trading Account or PTA or SAP or SASS); these accounts have Customers who OWN the underlying account, but they also have Pension Scheme Members (customers in their own right and ideally with Online Access), Trustees (customers in their own right and ideally with Online Access). You will notice the Trustees have multiple links, as such these accounts have the ability to switch between which account they want to work with (essentially switching profiles – shown in the profiles highlighted above).
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Pension Legal Entity, as this is just for holding purposes only
- Member1a is Member of Pension PTA Account-1 with Full Access
- Member2a is Member of Pension PTA Account-2 with Full Access
- Member3a and Member3b are Members of Pension PTA Account-3 with Full Access
- Member4a is Member of Pension PTA Account-4 with Full Access
- Member5a and Member5b are Members of Pension PTA Account-5 with Full Access
- Admin/Trustee Customer X are Trustees, who administer PTA Account-1, PTA Account-2 and PTA Account-3 (as shown in the profile example)
- Admin/Trustee Customer Y are Trustees, who administer PTA Account-4 and PTA Account-5 (as shown in the profile example)
** Trustees can run hundreds of accounts, and if this is the case, then careful consideration should be given to how these will be maintained online
Complex Family Structure
The above structure is just a relatively normal family structure, with mom and dad, looking after their own accounts, the children’s accounts as well as dad being power of attorney over his mothers account.
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entity (Customer D), as this is just for holding purposes only
- Mrs A (Mother) – Owner of ISA Account-1 with Full Access
- Miss B (Child) – is a child, as such cannot own the JSIPP/JISA, so is beneficiary for these accounts
- Mr Smith (Mom) – Owner of ISA Account-4, Beneficiary over the Joint Account-5, Owner of the JISA/JSIPP (the children’s account) and as well as Power Of Attorney over the mother’s ISA Account-1
- Mrs Smith (Dad) – Owner of ISA Account-6, Beneficiary over the Joint Account-5
** you will notice the green lines, containing “POA” – these signify the customer to customer relationships, between the Dad and his Mother (whom he has Power Of Attorney over)
Extreme Complex Structure
Although the above structure looks complex (well, actually ‘it is’), its quite a typical structure whereby a group of individuals or family members, share authorities over each others accounts, as well as setting up a complex joint shared by all.
Customer Account Role(s):
- No Login for the Joint Legal Entities (Customer AB and ABCD), as this is just for holding purposes only
- Mr A – Owner of Trading Account-1, Beneficiary of the Joint Account-2 and Joint Account-4 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs B – Owner of Trading Account-3, Beneficiary of the Joint Account-2 and Joint Account-4 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions)
- Mrs C – Owner of ISA Account-5 and Trading Account-6, Beneficiary of the Joint Account-4 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions) and POA over Trading Account-7, ISA Account-8 and SIPP Account-9 (will Full Access)
- Mr D- Owner of Trading Account-7, ISA Account-8 and SIPP Account-9 all with Full Access, Beneficiary of the Joint Account-4 with Full Access (special Joint Permissions); as well as Third Party Authority over Trading Account-3, ISA Account-5 and Trading Account-6 (with Partial Access)
Link types can almost be anything, but I’ve tried to highlight some of the more popular link types, which I have come across during my time analysing these over the years, during the many migrations I have either run or have been part of
Sample Link Types:-
- ACC – Accountant of the Account (normally a Corporate, Company or Charity Account)
- BEN – Beneficial Owner or Beneficiary of the Account
- CTL – Controller of the Account (normally a Corporate, Company or Charity Account)
- DIR – Director of the Account (normally a Corporate, Company or Charity Account)
- EXE – Executor over an Estate Account
- FAM – Family Relationship (used for Family Groupings)
- IFA – Independent Financial Advisor
- INR – Introducer
- INT – Intermediary
- OWN – Owner (legal entity owner) of the Account
- POA – Power Of Attorney over the Account
- POR – Portfolio
- PTM – Pension Trading Account / Pension Scheme Member
- PTT – Pension Trading Account / Pension Scheme Trustee
- SHR – Shareholder (normally a Corporate or Company)
- SIG – Signatory of the Account (normally a Corporate, Company or Charity Account)
- SOL – Solicitor over the Account
- TPA – Third Party Authority over the Account
- TST – Trustee
I’d appreciate your feedback, as this is one of first blog posts;
how does it read? is it pitched right? or too technical?
*** You will notice on some structures, there is a additional link (in green) between the customers (used in Joint Accounts for Beneficiaries and in POA); these links are as they look, they are roles between customers, so a POA link has Power Of Attorney at a customer level, not just account level.
