Commonwealth Securities, also known as CommSec, is Australia's largest online stockbroking firm operated by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It offers a telephone based brokerage service and advisory service, though its Internet trading platform constitutes the vast majority of its business.
History
The brokerage arm started operations in 1995 and launched its share trading website in 1997. CommSec initially offered only Australian equities trades, but has since expanded into derivative products, international equities, managed funds, self-managed super fund administration, contracts-for-difference, margin lending and short-term deposits. The firm's large retail customer base has also allowed it to successfully market a number of initial public offering fund raisings. In 2008 CommSec became the first Australian brokerage firm to offer a brokerage website specifically designed for a portable-device. It created CommSec iPhone Edition for the Apple iPhone, the first home-grown iPhone application in Australia. In 2008 the broker disbanded its Share Shops closing the front in the Commonwealth Bank branch in Pitt St, Sydney, following the earlier closure of the Melbourne Share Shop in Collins St.
Mergers and Acquisitions
CommSec has retained and increased its already significant market share in retail broking through both CBA's acquisition of other banks and its own acquisition of other broking firms. CommSec now performs broking operations for Colonial First State, TD Waterhouse, AOT, Neville Ward Direct, Auckland Savings Bank, and IWL. The acquisition of IWL in 2007 gave CommSec significant market share in wholesale broking to complement its existing retail presence.
Services
CommSec's primary channel for customers is its website. The website provides static information that can be refreshed for updates on the frequently changing markets. It offers a comprehensive suite of features including trades, watchlists, funds management, portfolios, holdings management, financial & contract details, cash management, chatrooms and news & research. CommSec's frequent equities, CFDs and options traders use the realtime trading platform CommSecIRESS. It is a web-based solution, developed by IRESS Market Technology and based on the Java runtime environment. This platform combines the majority of the features of the website, while adding more advanced features and streaming live data from the Australian Securities Exchange. CommSec also offers phone-based trading through its call-centre, advisory service and the automated voice recognition platform PhoneTrader.
Cash management
In 2008 CommSec diversified into the short term deposit sector with the introduction of its Cash Management product. The product consists of two distinct accounts the CommSec Cash Account and the CommSec Investment Account. The CCA is the source of funds for stock trading and also an everyday transaction account, with a linked debit MasterCard. The CIA earns interest and cash can only be transferred to and from the CCA. In December 2012, CommSec announced plans to replace CCA and CIA accounts with a Commonwealth Direct Investment Account, which is a settlement account that earns interest.
