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Specify Client Fees

You can elect to charge your clients for services rendered through one of our available billing methods. You specify advisor fees at the time of your client’s registration, but you can modify or add them at any time on the Configure Fees page Account Management. All fee modifications must first be submitted electronically in Account Management and will become effective only after the signed PDF has been received and processed by us. Please note that fee changes are not retroactive.

Client fee schedules can be applied to accounts individually or can be stored in templates. As an advisor, you can configure fees for one or more client accounts, or set up client fee schedules in templates, then assign the templates to client accounts. The use of templates allows you to easily maintain different fee schedules for multiple client accounts. If you are a new advisor (i.e., you just opened your IB account), then there will be a blank default client fee template, which you can then configure with your own fee schedule.

You set client fees in Account Management using the Manage Clients > Fees > Configure page. On this page, you can:

• View and sort all client accounts.
• Select one or more client accounts, then view (and if necessary, modify) the current fee schedule for those accounts.
• Select one or more client accounts, then configure and apply a fee schedule to those accounts.
• Select one or more client accounts, then apply a previously saved client fee template to those accounts.

• Charge all commissions for a client account to the Advisor account by clicking the Charge Commissions to Advisor Account check box. Note that if the Advisor Master account balance is below $1000 when the commissions need to be posted, then the commission will be charged to the client account.

Automatic billing is calculated and automatically billed to the client’s account by IB. We offer a variety of methods that can be used, including Percentage of an account's value, Percentage of P&L, or a Flat Fee. You can also apply High Water Marking to the billing period client fees to offset periods of losses in a volatile market.

If you choose to use Direct Billing, IB is not involved and you are responsible for billing your client(s) directly.

You can also charge minimum monthly fees and IRA account fees for their clients to your Advisor Master account. Click Manage Clients > Fees > Charge Fees to Master to select this option.

Electronic Invoices and Fee Reimbursements

For electronic invoices, you calculate the markup and submit an invoice electronically to IB on the Advisor Invoicing page in Account Management, and that amount will automatically be transferred from the client account to your account. Invoices submitted prior to 5:30 (17:30) PM EST will be processed the same day (U.S. night) and appear on that day's statements. Invoices submitted after 5:30 (17:30) PM EST will be processed on the next business day. Submit invoices for up to ten clients per day, but only one invoice per client account per day.

For client accounts that have been configured for electronic invoices, you can reimburse fees to client accounts up to a maximum of 50% of invoices (net of any prior rebate) for the trailing 12-month period. Advisors can also modify or cancel pending fee reimbursements and view the details of fee reimbursements that have already been processed.

Click Manage Clients > Fees > Invoicing to configure client invoices and fee reimbursements.

For additional information about all our available billing methods, see Advisor Client Fees topic in the Account Management Users' Guide.

Charge Commissions and Client Fees to the Advisor

As an Advisor, you can elect to charge client commissions to your own Advisor master account when configuring fees for a client account. Commission charges will revert to the client account if the Advisor master account has a balance of less than 1000 USD or equivalent when the commission charges are posted.

By default, minimum monthly fees, IRA account fees and market data and research fees are charged to Advisor client accounts. However, Advisors can elect to charge these fees to their own Master account. Client fees will be charged to the client account if the Advisor master account has a balance of less than 1000 USD or equivalent when fees are posted.

Charge Fees on Client Investments in Hedge Funds

You can also charge fees on the current value of the amount that your clients have invested in hedge funds who participate in our Hedge Fund Capital Introduction Program (HFCIP), which is part of our Investors’ Marketplace. If you have already invested funds for your client at the Hedge Fund Investor Site (available at the Marketplace), the invested hedge fund will automatically be enabled for the fee program.

For each client who invests in a participating hedge fund, you can charge fees based on the Annualized Percentage of Net Liquidation Value of the current value of the client's investment in the Fund and/or the percentage of profit and loss of the client's investment in the Fund, as well as configure the fee posting frequency (monthly or quarterly). Your clients must approve the fee schedule by signing a form.

To set fees based on the value of your clients' Hedge Fund investments, click Manage Clients > Fees > HFCIP Fees.