Effective October 16, 2026, National Financial Services (NFS) will enhance its Buying Power controls for ESI brokerage accounts.
The enhanced control is designed to prevent purchases and other opening transactions from being entered when an account does not have sufficient available cash or buying power to support the transaction.
What This Means for Advisors
Beginning October 16, advisors may encounter situations where a purchase cannot be entered until sufficient buying power is available in the account.
This change may be particularly noticeable when trading mutual funds because mutual fund transactions are forward-priced.
For example, if an advisor enters a mutual fund redemption during the trading day and then attempts to use those anticipated proceeds to purchase another security, the redemption proceeds may not be reflected as available buying power until the mutual fund is priced after market close. As a result, the subsequent purchase may not be accepted if the account does not otherwise have sufficient buying power.
Exchanges and Cross-Fund Family Exchanges
Mutual fund exchanges are not subject to the enhanced Buying Power control.
ESI is currently working with NFS to introduce a new Cross-Fund Family Exchange option within the Mutual Fund order ticket. Once available, this functionality will allow advisors to sell a mutual fund in one fund family and purchase a mutual fund in another fund family as part of an exchange, avoiding the buying power limitations that may otherwise apply when a redemption and subsequent purchase are entered as separate transactions. Additional information will be provided once this functionality has been configured for ESI and advisor entitlements are available.
Please note that any applicable sales charges or contingent deferred sales charges (CDSCs) will continue to apply when using the Cross-Fund Family Exchange option. Because these transactions involve moving assets between different mutual fund families, they are considered mutual fund switches for documentation purposes, and a Mutual Fund Purchase Disclosure (MFPD) is required.
What You Need to Do
Before entering a purchase, confirm that the account has sufficient available buying power to support the transaction. Do not assume that proceeds from a mutual fund redemption entered earlier that day will be immediately available for a subsequent purchase.
This enhancement is being implemented by NFS as part of its ongoing review of trading and risk controls and is intended to reduce the risk of transactions being entered without sufficient buying power.
Please contact the ESI Brokerage & Advisory Operations team with questions regarding the change or assistance with entering a transaction.