In many ways, COVID-19 caused a rapid shift towards new technology solutions for registered representatives and their clients. The adoption of new technology tools has driven dramatic increases in efficiency and ease of doing business. Unfortunately, the financial services industry has also seen a corresponding increase in cyber fraud and cyber-attacks during this same time period.

To combat the new methods of identity-based fraud being utilized by fraudsters, protect your customer accounts, and increase the efficiency of processing money movement requests, the firm is expanding DocuSign eligibility within Docupace.

Effective June 15, 2021 Equity Services expanded DocuSign eligibility of forms to include cashiering/money movement and general update/maintenance requests.

Summary of DocuSign Expansion

Once the changes take effect, all forms related to the disbursement of customer funds will now be e-sign eligible using DocuSign. The procedure for e-signature of the newly expanded forms will remain consistent with current processes in Docupace.

The security protocols built into DocuSign technology aid in mitigating many of the measures used by fraudsters today to gain access to customer assets and accounts. To further bolster these protections, ESI Operations has created a new form that will be automatically added with certain types of disbursement activity. The Certification of Verbal Client Contact can be quickly completed by the representative within the Docupace work item to document certain details of the transaction and method of verbal contact. Verbal customer contact remains the strongest tool we have available to curb potential fraud attempts.

Once approved for DocuSign, simply click on Starting point in Docupace and follow the step-by-step instructions.

Please note, National Financial Services and Equity Services still require “wet-signature” on a very limited number of forms. These items have been purposely omitted from the library of forms within the electronic Cashiering and General Update workflows.

Changes to Limits on Disbursements of Funds

In conjunction with the new efficiencies extended to the money-movement process, there will also be new thresholds applied to ALL customer disbursements (whether electronic or wet signed). These changes will take effect on Friday, June 25th.

Moving forward the disbursement limits for third party transactions are as follows:

3rd Party Wires –                           $25K

Wires to an institutional recipient, for the benefit of the ESI account owner are NOT subject to the limits (see below for details).

3rd Party Checks & EFT –             $100K

Additional Details

• As it relates to these limits, a 3rd party is defined as any payee that differs from the exact registered owner of our Brokerage Account. 
• Any transaction in an amount above disbursement limits will require a Medallion Signature Guarantee. Equity Services will not provide Medallion Signature Guarantees on these transactions; they must be provided by another party.
• If a client needs to disburse funds to a 3^rd party and would prefer not to obtain a Medallion Signature Guarantee, it is now easier and more secure to request funds to their bank account. Once funds are deposited into their checking/savings account, they can securely transmit payment to their intended recipient.
• Wires to an institutional recipient, for the benefit of the ESI account owner are not subject to the limits above. These include wires to other investment providers (Insurance/Annuity companies, Mutual Fund companies, Qualified Retirement Plans, etc.), or Bank/Mortgage companies. The FBO information must specifically be incorporated into the wiring instructions. 
• 3rd Party Transactions processed utilizing Standing Payment Instructions shall be subject to the same limits. The frequency and size of transactions utilized with a 3rd party Standing Instruction are subject to review and Equity Services reserves the right to delete a Standing Instruction.
• Equity Services reserves the right to require a Medallion Signature Guarantee on any 3rd party transaction, regardless of the limits stated above. Additionally, we reserve the right to require a Medallion Guarantee on a first party check being sent to an address that differs from the AOR.

In summary, these new measures will make is easier to transmit most of the money movement/disbursement requests that you process for your clients. Correspondingly, the security offered by DocuSign and limits on higher-risk transaction-types will also protect you and your clients’ assets from the ever-growing threat posed by cybercriminals.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact ESI Operations at 1-800-344-7437.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW FIELD NOTICE 2021-18:

EXPANSION OF DOCUSIGN ELIGIBILITY & NEW LIMITS ON DISBURSEMENTS OF FUNDS

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ESI and National Life Group will be closed on Monday July 5^th in observance of the 4^th of July holiday. We will be back Tuesday July 6^th with normal business hours.

Please note, there will be no ESI Insights next week – we’ll be back in your inbox Thursday July 15^th!

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In many ways, COVID-19 caused a rapid shift towards new technology solutions for registered representatives and their clients. The adoption of new technology tools has driven dramatic increases in efficiency and ease of doing business. Unfortunately, the financial services industry has also seen a corresponding increase in cyber fraud and cyber-attacks during this same time period.

To combat the new methods of identity-based fraud being utilized by fraudsters, protect your customer accounts, and increase the efficiency of processing money movement requests, the firm is expanding DocuSign eligibility within Docupace.

Effective June 15, 2021 Equity Services expanded DocuSign eligibility of forms to include cashiering/money movement and general update/maintenance requests.

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Summary of DocuSign Expansion
Once the changes take effect, all forms related to the disbursement of customer funds will now be e-sign eligible using DocuSign. The procedure for e-signature of the newly expanded forms will remain consistent with current processes in Docupace.

The security protocols built into DocuSign technology aid in mitigating many of the measures used by fraudsters today to gain access to customer assets and accounts. To further bolster these protections, ESI Operations has created a new form that will be automatically added with certain types of disbursement activity. The Certification of Verbal Client Contactcan be quickly completed by the representative within the Docupace work item to document certain details of the transaction and method of verbal contact. Verbal customer contact remains the strongest tool we have available to curb potential fraud attempts.

Once approved for DocuSign, simply click on Starting point in Docupace and follow the step-by-step instructions.

Please note: National Financial Services and Equity Services still require “wet-signature” on a very limited number of forms. These items have been purposely omitted from the library of forms within the electronic Cashiering and General Update workflows.

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Changes to Limits on Disbursements of Funds
In conjunction with the new efficiencies extended to the money-movement process, there will also be new thresholds applied to ALL customer disbursements (whether electronic or wet signed). These changes will take effect on Friday, June 25th.

Moving forward the disbursement limits for third party transactions are as follows:
3rd Party Wires – $25K
Wires to an institutional recipient, for the benefit of the ESI account owner are NOT subject to the limits (see below for details).
3rd Party Checks & EFT – $100K

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Additional Details

• As it relates to these limits, a 3rd party is defined as any payee that differs from the exact registered owner of our Brokerage Account. 
• Any transaction in an amount above disbursement limits will require a Medallion Signature Guarantee. Equity Services will not provide Medallion Signature Guarantees on these transactions; they must be provided by another party.
• If a client needs to disburse funds to a 3^rd party and would prefer not to obtain a Medallion Signature Guarantee, it is now easier and more secure to request funds to their bank account. Once funds are deposited into their checking/savings account, they can securely transmit payment to their intended recipient.
• Wires to an institutional recipient, for the benefit of the ESI account owner are not subject to the limits above. These include wires to other investment providers (Insurance/Annuity companies, Mutual Fund companies, Qualified Retirement Plans, etc.), or Bank/Mortgage companies. The FBO information must specifically be incorporated into the wiring instructions. 
• 3rd Party Transactions processed utilizing Standing Payment Instructions shall be subject to the same limits. The frequency and size of transactions utilized with a 3rd party Standing Instruction are subject to review and Equity Services reserves the right to delete a Standing Instruction.
• Equity Services reserves the right to require a Medallion Signature Guarantee on any 3rd party transaction, regardless of the limits stated above. Additionally, we reserve the right to require a Medallion Guarantee on a first party check being sent to an address that differs from the AOR.

In summary, these new measures will make is easier to transmit most of the money movement/disbursement requests that you process for your clients. Correspondingly, the security offered by DocuSign and limits on higher-risk transaction-types will also protect you and your clients’ assets from the ever-growing threat posed by cybercriminals.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact ESI Operations at 1-800-344-7437.

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In March, Equity Services, Inc. delivered an updated Brokerage Client Transaction Fee Schedule to all customers within their Q1 statement. The schedule reflected the new NFS Paper Statement Fee ($5/quarter), which will be live in Q3 of this year. Additionally, a statement message will be printed on all NFS monthly statements from May-September that communicates the implementation of this new monthly charge and provides instructions for enrolling for electronic document delivery. We have also added the myOnline Brokerage Central link to our public website to provide additional resources for customers wishing to enroll in eDelivery and avoid the $5.00 quarterly fee for paper document delivery.

The paper surcharge fee goes into effect in the third quarter of this year. The first fee will be reflected on the September 30th account statement. Clients will need to sign up for electronic delivery by approximately September 15th to avoid the fee. Please note, this date is still subject to change and NFS could modify the date by plus or minus a few business days as we near the live date. It is strongly recommended that clients who intend to opt for eDelivery to avoid the fee do so now.

You can easily generate a Click-to-Agree email to your client to enable them to enroll with the click of a button. In Wealthscape, click on Menu – Service – Service & Workflow – Document Delivery Instructions. Simply input the customers email address and click “Set all documents to eDelivery”. The document status will display as “pending eDelivery” until the customer completes the “CTA” process. We have also created an “E-Delivery Enrollment Report” that can be viewed within Wealthscape Reports to provide a snapshot of your book of business and their current document preferences.

A field notice will be delivered in the future that further outlines some of the operational logistics around the Paper Surcharge Fee. It is strongly recommended that representatives review this document in full once distributed. Please feel free to contact the service desk at 1-800-344-7437 with any questions in the meantime.

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