OVERLAND PARK, Kansas – CNBS is putting the power to trade in the hands of its clients. On July 29 CNBS launched My CNBS, a revamped version of its Web site (www.cnbsnet.com) with emphasis on functionality. One of the most dramatic changes is online trading. CNBS President/CEO Brian Hague said as part of a CNBS survey conducted earlier this year, CNBS attempted to gauge CU interest in online trading. The survey found that about 33% of CNBS clients were interested. Hague said this new functionality is really about presenting options. "It's more of a convenience thing. They don't have to pick up the phone and call a broker if they don't want to," said Hague. The first online trade was a new issue for about a half a million dollars conducted the week of August 5. Any trade online is priced the same as if someone called in a trade to CNBS. Hague said one key to going this route was to be able to provide a way for CUs to talk to brokers online. The service features a live chat solution from LivePerson that allows a CU to talk online with a trader at the CNBS trading desk. Often credit unions will discuss a security with a CNBS broker before going forward with the trade. CNBS looked to another corporate to help build the trading capability and the new site. The site was developed by SmartSource Solutions, a CUSO of Constitution State Corporate Credit Union. Mike Pennell, director of Web services for SmartSource, was the lead on the project. Interestingly, Pennell worked for U.S. Central in Web development for about four years before moving to SmartSource. "The entire site is database-driven. CNBS can change a lot of information in real-time fashion. They're not restricted to having their Web site host do the updating," said Pennell. SmartSource happens to also be the host of CNBS' site, but Pennell said for a fast-pased business like securities, where rates fluctuate and investment specials arise at any time, it was critical for CNBS to be able to update the site on its own. As Web site administration technology has improved, organizations no longer are dependent on HTML editors. Sites can now be updated in similar fashion to working with a basic word processing program. So far about 350 people have registered with CNBS to do trades online. Interest in the site in the early days of the launch was high. According to Pennell, the site experienced 10,540 page views the week of the launch, with the average visit to the site lasting 12 minutes, a relatively long time in Web land. Kendrick Croasmun, a CNBS trader, said the online functionality is going to be used mostly by the more do-it-yourself CUs. Croasmun said online trading isn't available for all securities, but for well over 100 that CNBS sees as the kinds of securities its clients are interested in. Other new features of My CNBS include the ability to view market indicators updated every 15 minutes, the ability to track purchase history online, to access current and archived reports, and others. [email protected]