To include account numbers or not?

October 31, 2024 – We have all been victims of digital attacks from hackers attempting to obtain our personal information for their benefit. It’s now part of our everyday life, but that does not mean we should be relaxed about staying diligent and protecting our data. It’s not any different in the wealth management business, where we walk a fine line to ensure our clients receive the best client experience while keeping their data protected and private.

One constant topic of discussion at Robertson Stephens is whether to include account numbers on quarterly investment reports or not. While we are fortunate to have a reporting platform that allows our advisor teams the option to choose, having this choice has caused some decision anxiety among them.  Here is how we help them make the best decision for our clients.

Reasons to include account numbers on reports:

• Allows clients to easily interface with their advisor, as well as with the custodian.
• Minimizes confusion between accounts, particularly when there are multiple accounts with the same registration.
• It is the industry standard – clients are used to seeing account numbers on bank statements, insurance statements, etc. This can boost client confidence, particularly in newer and smaller RIAs.

Reasons to exclude account numbers from reports:

• Including account numbers on printed or PDF documents poses a slightly higher security risk if the documents are obtained by a malevolent party.
• If quarterly reports are mailed, there is an increase in risk due to undeliverable or stolen mail.

While we recognize the marginal increase in risk posed by including account numbers in reports, we believe the benefits of having account numbers on reports far outweigh that risk.  We are also confident that our security protocols for report transmission are sufficient to prevent unwanted access.  It should be noted that those protocols are not relaxed if account numbers are excluded from a report.  For these reasons, it is the standard at Robertson Stephens to include account numbers in our investment reports.