Monitoring Pending Applications & Broker Client Approval

This lesson will review how Brokers can use the Interactive Brokers Broker Portal to monitor the status of pending applications as well as how to enable and use Broker Client Approval.

All Pending Applications can be monitored on the Home Dashboard of the Broker Portal under the Pending Items box. To view further details on the status of a pending application, click the blue Incomplete link under the Status column.

A pop-up window will open listing the Application Tasks. The completed tasks will be noted in green and have a time stamp of when the task was completed, whereas the pending tasks will be red flagged and reflected as “To be done.”

If the application was Fully Electronic, the Broker can view the client’s last login attempt towards the bottom of the Application Tasks window and whether the client was successful in logging in. This information can be helpful to the Broker who may want to check in with the client to see if they need help if some time has passed since their last login. The broker can also cancel the application on the client’s behalf by clicking Delete Application in the bottom right corner. If any supplemental documents are required for the application, the blue Upload Document button will be available next to Delete Application.

If it was a Semi-Electronic application, the Broker will have a separate button in the bottom right corner for Modify Application. Clicking Modify Application will re-direct the broker to the application page where they can make any necessary changes and also upload any required documents.

When the application is approved and the account is opened, it will be reflected under the Recent Activity tab which displays any client funding and application activity from the past five days. If no activity has occurred, a message to that effect will appear.

Broker Client Approval

Introducing Brokers on the IBKR platform can elect to enable Broker Client Approval which allows the Broker’s compliance team to pre-review and approve new client applications and requests for options trading permissions prior to IBKR reviews them.

To enable Broker Client Approval, click the Head and Shoulders icon in the upper right corner and select Settings and the master broker account. On the Account Settings page, navigate to the Account Configuration section and select Client Approvals. Select Yes to enable the Broker Client Approval and click Save.

Once the client has completed the application, it is moved to Account Review for the Introducing Broker to approve prior to the application being reviewed by IBKR. Like applications in progress, the Account Review is reflected in the Pending Items section of the Dashboard. To review and approve the application, select Needs Broker Approval under the Status column.

The broker will be redirected to the Contact Information for the account and a yellow text box will be highlighted at the top to Review the Client Application. Once the Broker has reviewed the client information on the page, the broker can elect to Decline the application or Approve it.

If Approve is selected, the broker will be prompted to enter commentary and they can select Approve once more to complete the Broker Client Approval. The application will then be reviewed by IBKR.

As we have reviewed in this lesson, the IBKR Broker Portal enables Introducing Brokers to monitor their clients’ applications giving the broker the option to pre-approve an application prior to being reviewed by IBKR.

Resources

Broker Client Approval

Broker Portal User Guide