Minimize Failed Transfers
Reduce the times you must re-initiate the process or use an alternate method, such as liquidating and repurchasing assets
Opening a Brokerage Account in Real Time
Plug into our real-time account opening to convert prospects to clients as fast as they can type.
Accelerate New Client
Onboarding
Give your clients a digital-first experience where they can open, fund, and invest in real-time.
How Facet Uses Onboarding to Pursue Growth
Account Funding and Money Movements
New Accounts
Open a Brokerage Account in Seconds*
Enable real-time capabilities for opening a brokerage account by plugging into our APIs or using our pre-built UIs. Our standard process validates customer information as it goes, reducing the opportunity for errors. And it uses straight-through processing to avoid the delay of manual steps.
30+ Account Types Including
- Individual
- Joint
- Retirement
- Individual margin
- Institutional
- Trust
- Entity
- And more
*Most securities accounts can be opened in seconds and funded moments later, enabling trading thereafter.
Accelerated ID Verification
Premium Service Helps Reduce Abandonment
With just a phone number and tax ID, our Accelerated Identity Verification (AIDV) service leverages an investor’s digital footprint to pre-populate account applications, significantly reducing friction when opening a brokerage account by using verified data to drive faster onboarding.
Reduce Abandonment
Abandonment rates for financial forms that take more than five minutes can spike to 60% or higher.*
Prefill Applications
Use verified identity data from credit records, debit card records, and other digital footprint sources.
Real-Time Verification
Provide real-time verification thanks to integration with our APIs for near-instant results.
Better Client Experience
Make a better first impression with a tech-forward experience for new clients, including fewer resubmissions.
Upcoming Integrations
Expect more integrations with leading identity networks as we expand this AIDV service.
Egan, Mark. The Financial Brand. “Most Customers Abandon Account Opening. How to Take Back Control.” August 14, 2025. https://thefinancialbrand.com/news/bank-onboarding/more-than-half-of-customers-abandon-account-opening-how-to-take-back-control-of-the-process-191691
How Facet Uses Onboarding to Pursue Growth
For Facet to unlock their next levels of growth, they had to streamline the process of opening a brokerage account for new clients.
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Account Funding
Real-Time Money Movement
Enable your clients and customers to fund their accounts in real time through a variety of traditional and next-gen methods — all powered by our APIs. These funding rails streamline deposits, withdrawals, and other money movements.
Funding rails include:
- U.S. ACH
- Real-time payments
- Instant cash transfers
- Wire deposits
- Cash journals
- Check deposits
- Scheduled transfers
- ACH Push
- Direct Deposit
New ACATS Protocols
Move Assets Faster, Build Trust Sooner
Support clients through a transfer experience that feels as modern as the rest of your platform. Easily connect via API or a single webhook, meet the latest DTCC protocols without building from scratch, and give your ops team the visibility they need to resolve issues quickly. Here’s a snapshot of the benefits; visit the ACATS webpage for all the details.
- Full and partial transfers for a wide range of asset and account types
- Unified UI enables users to search all transfers by chronological status, system events, and state transition in one interface
- Broad capabilities including fail reversals, mutual fund cleanups, reclaims, and event-driven updates
- Real-time notifications for service events
- ACATS simulator for real-time testing
Premium Plaid Integration
Take transfer accuracy further with our Plaid integration. This optional premium service automates the account linking process, reducing the manual entry errors that cause up to 50% of transfer rejections industry-wide.**
Automated OAuth Linking
Use secure, token-based authentication to connect contra-brokerages, eliminating the need to share credentials
Smart Fallbacks
Verify and enrich entries with smart fallback logic when full data sets are not available
Real-Time Status Updates
Get event-driven notifications the moment changes arrive, not hours later
Built-In Data Transparency
Keep investors informed throughout the process
** Sullivan, Tom. Plaid. ACATS transfers: How APIs & open finance modernize investing. January 15, 2025. https://plaid.com/resources/fintech/acats-transfer/
AML and Fraud-Protection Checks
Real-Time Validation and Screening
Apex performs a myriad of compliance and technology functions about as fast as your new investors can type in their information. We can remove friction so you can optimize conversion rates.
- Identity verification
- KYC and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) protocols for both U.S. and non-U.S.-based investors
- Investor screening
- OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), sanctions lists, and negative news
- Trade monitoring
- Fraud reporting
FAQs
A Few Brokerage Account Opening FAQs
Yes. Every new account goes through thorough identity verification and Know Your Customer (KYC) investigations in real time. We screen customers against industry watch lists, sanctions lists, and negative news to verify identity and help ensure compliance.
The account opening process is designed so these security checks happen in the background, allowing accounts to be opened in seconds* while investigations are completed. If any investigation requires additional review, the account opens with temporary restrictions until resolved, so the customer experience stays fast without compromising security.
Yes. Broker-dealer clients can use their own identity verification results for customer onboarding. Apex will still perform ongoing background monitoring for all introduced customers to ensure continued compliance with AML, sanctions screening, and fraud detection requirements.
Partial account opening data is not automatically saved, so you or your client will have to start over. However, if you use our premium Accelerated ID Verification (AIDV) service, your client can simply enter their phone number and tax ID to pre-populate the rest of their application, which can significantly reduce the time required (and, hopefully, the odds of being interrupted).
The DTCC is modernizing ACATS with significant updates rolling out through October 2026:
Modern Messaging Formats
Legacy file transmissions are being replaced with modern protocols like JSON and MQ, enabling real-time processing and improved transparency. Firms must migrate to these new interfaces by the October 2026 deadline when legacy file formats will be decommissioned.
Faster Settlement
ACATS transfers are now processed in just 3–4 business days (down from 5–6), with the settlement preparation stage removed as of October 2025.
Enhanced Features
The new protocols support more efficient workflows, stronger resiliency, and extensibility for new asset types such as 529 plan data transfers.
Mandatory Requirements
All firms must support one-day settling assets for all transfers and migrate off legacy file formats by October 2026.
Apex’s ACATS solution is built for these new DTCC protocols, ensuring you’re ready for the transition with real-time transfer simulation, event-driven workflows, and modern API integration.
Get more information
Just complete and submit this form to start a conversation with a sales rep about how Apex’s tech-forward brokerage account opening solutions can help accelerate transfers.