Two technology vendors that have been featured on FPPad before, ByAllAccounts and Tamarac, today announced a partnership to add ByAllAccounts’ account aggregation capabilities to the Tamarac Advisor® integrated portfolio platform.

Click here to read the press release ByAllAccounts and Tamarac Deliver All-in-one Platform for Financial Advisors to Streamline Operations and Workflow.

I last covered ByAllAccounts in February this year as the company started offering periodic webinars to advisors on a variety of practice management topics, including account aggregation.

And Tamarac was featured on FPPad in September of last year as it announced the release of Advisor® 9 platform.

It’s interesting to note that the September article indicated that Advisor already included support for ByAllAccounts account aggregation, so it’ll be interesting to see what enhancements, if any, are generated from this new relationship.

I’m putting some feelers out for more information and will do my best to report back as I receive it.

Consider what you are trying to accomplish when you deliver a presentation, be it to allied professionals evaluating your firm, potential clients, or guests at a client appreciation event.

Often the most effective way to deliver your message can be accomplished through three simple tips shared by Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick.

Click here to view Made to Stick: Giving Presentations, Dan Heath’s three and a half minute video on FastCompany.com

In particular, I’ve been working with several individuals on communicating the risks and responsibilities when it comes to using client login credentials (e.g. login and password) to access captive or held-away accounts.  As client services continue to expand, advisers are aggregating information on held-away accounts to generate reports that include all of a client’s assets, not just those that are held with the adviser’s custodian of choice.

Last week, I participated on a webinar hosted by ByAllAccounts that addressed the issues of custody when adopting this practice.

Today, Advisor Perspectives has published my article titled The Custody Conundrum.  I trust that you will find most of the answers to your questions when it comes to custody and the practice of retaining and using your clients’ account logins.

Thanks to Tim Simons, CFA, CPA, CFP®, CSCP, CIPM of Ashland Compliance Group, LLC and Karla Paxton of ByAllAccounts for their consultation.

Related posts:

• NAPFA Technology Conference Report: Day Three
• Look Under the Hood of ByAllAccounts
• Get the Financial Planning 2008 Software Survey

While Dr. Basu is correct that the industry needs to do better in its service to clients, he lumps CFP® practitioners together with all financial service professionals, whether they be regulated or not.

So in response, CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller published a response to Dr. Basu titled In Defense of the CFP Mark.  Keller clarifies several of Dr. Basu’s misconceptions in his original article and stresses how all advisers must operate with “full accountability and transparency” to clients.

Take a few mintues to read these articles and post comments on FA Magazine’s website.

Update: Now read this post by Dr. David Edward Marcinko at the Medical Executive Post. Dr. Marcinko finishes his comments with this:

And so, why do I shake my fist at Somnath Basu? It’s admittedly with congratulations, and a bit of schadenfreude, because he wrote an article more eloquently than I ever could, and will likely receive much more publicity [good or slings-arrows] for doing so. You know, it’s very true that one is never a prophet in his own tribe. Oh well, Mazel Tov anyway for stating the obvious, Somnath. The financial services industry – and more specifically – the CFP® emperor have no clothes! Duh!

Until then, you can follow my micro updates on Twitter.