Westpac Online Trading

The bank is promising a fast and efficient service with live stock price data from the Australian Stock Exchange, levels of customisation not available on the old trading platform and an enhanced offering of news and research.

Westpac is one of a number of providers of online share-trading services that have upgraded their offerings since the recovery in the market started last year.

Macquarie Group has relaunched its execution-only service under the moniker Macquarie Edge and has incorporated "social networking" features into the new platform.

Suncorp has signed up a new partner, CMC Markets, and has upgraded its research and education service

E*Trade added a tax reporting function to its offering last year and earlier this month added an international share-trading facility that gives investors access to 11 equity markets in North America, Europe and Asia. E*Trade has integrated the local and international platforms so its clients can view their complete position in a single account summary.

CommSec is adding more research. CommSec has been hiring analysts as part of an expansion into the institutional broking market and much of their output will be made available to CommSec retail clients.

CommSec's other focus has been to build a more integrated service so that investors can use one log-in for their trading, cash management and margin loan accounts. The changes are designed to make it easier to use the site and produce better account reports.

Bell Direct launched a set of new online trading tools. Investors can call up reports on directors' trading activity, unusual volumes, changes to substantial holdings, market depth charts, lists of stocks at their 52-week highs or lows, and changes to buy and sell recommendations. Its market overview page has been designed to give investors a single-view dashboard of the state of the markets and their account, plus the latest news.

How it works Westpac is offering several service levels for different customer segments. The standard package, which is designed for first-timers or infrequent transactors, has no account fee and costs $29.95 to trade (or 0.15 per cent, whichever is higher).

Customers with a Westpac transaction or savings account, or a BT margin loan account, can have an integrated account, which means that the share-trading account and the other accounts are linked. Integrated account transaction charges are lower, at $24.95 a trade (or 0.11 per cent, whichever is higher).

For $25 a month investors can have the advanced package, which includes a Reuters news feed and Ralph Wragg market commentary and Morning Star premium research. The fee is rebated if the investor makes at least two trades a month or incurs a minimum of $50 of brokerage fees. For $79, investors can sign up for the professional package, which includes all the advanced package extras and operates on a more sophisticated "active platform". The fee is rebated if the investor makes a minimum of 15 trades a month or incurs $350 of brokerage.

Pros All the research is independent. Upgrading the service to provide a live ASX price feed is a big plus. Another good feature is the integration of accounts for Westpac customers.

Westpac is promising a much greater level of customisation than in the past. The head of Westpac Securities, James Staltari, says the old system had a standard home page but the new service allows investors to pick the items they want to have on their home page - whether it is news, market updates, popular stocks or exchange rates. He says the stock-holdings page now shows stock in multiple accounts, including broker-sponsored and issuer-sponsored holdings.

Cons Leading edge online share-trading services incorporate some of the features of social networking, which allows investors to share information and ideas. Westpac does not offer that facility. Staltari says the service does offer a "most popular stock" feature, which allows an investor to look at the most popular stocks bought and sold by other customers throughout the day.

Another feature is tax reporting. E*Trade added this free to its service last year. Clients can have a full tax report on any taxable items held on their E*Trade account. Westpac does not offer a tax reporting service.

It has also left the pricing for Westpac Online Investing unchanged from the old service.

Other providers, such as Macquarie, have reduced prices as they have upgraded to more efficient platforms.

Westpac Online Trading