Study Notes:
The Support Center in IBKR’s Portal holds customer support and account support tools that an institutional account at Interactive Brokers may need. The Support Center can be accessed by clicking the Help icon in the upper right corner and selecting Support Center from the drop-down menu.
The Support Center includes tools such as:
- The secure Message Center,
- Contract Search,
- Short Stock Availability,
- Paper Forms,
- Market Data Assistant,
- Corporate Action Manager, and more.
This video will review some of the key support tools.
Message Center
Clicking Message Center allows users to submit questions directly to Client Services and every inquiry is assigned a reference number, called a ticket. This ticket number can be used to efficiently track the progress of the inquiry.
To submit a new inquiry, click the Compose button. The user can submit a new inquiry ticket or submit Trade Cancellation Requests or Pattern Day Trader Requests. In this example, the user clicks New Ticket and selects the topic their inquiry is about. Say the user has a reporting question regarding their account statement. They’ll select Activity & Tax Statements then select the sub-topic Statement Explanation.
Enter a brief overview of the inquiry in the Subject box then further explain the inquiry or issue in the Body section. Use the drop-down menu to select the account this inquiry is pertaining to or if it is a general question, select that it is not account specific. It may also be helpful to our Client Services teams to attach documents or images that pertain to the inquiry at hand. For example, attaching the report that may need clarification or submitting a screenshot of the platform.
When ready, click Preview Ticket to review before clicking Submit Ticket. The real-time status of an inquiry is always displayed in the main Message Center window so that the user can see if the inquiry has been assigned to a service expert, which expert is handling the inquiry, and whether it is being addressed by our main help team or by a specialty team. In addition, clients can cancel or close tickets once the issue has been addressed, giving them greater control over the process.
Tickets are generally assigned within a few hours during European and North American trading hours. However, if it is a time-sensitive or urgent issue, please call in to speak to a Client Service Representative directly. The global phone numbers for the Institutional Client Services team are listed on our website.
IB-Chat
In addition to submitting a web ticket in the Message Center or calling in directly, clients can communicate via live chat with a Client Services Representative. Because it is authenticated and uses secure communications, IBKR staff are able to provide account specific information in a secure manner to assist with inquiries in real-time.
To open a chat with IBKR’s Client Services team, click the IB-Chat (Live) button on the Support Center screen. Similar to inquiry tickets, clients can select a topic and sub-topic relating to their inquiry. Type in their question and click Enter Chat to be redirected to a live chat with a customer service representative.
There are many more tools located in the Support Center. For more information on these tools, please see our website and User Guides.
Corporate Action Manager
Corporate Action notifications can be viewed from the Message Center by clicking Corporate Actions, but they can also be monitored in the Corporate Action Manager tool launched from the Support Center page.
The Corporate Action Manager allows clients to review information on upcoming corporate actions relating to their account. The tool displays information on both mandatory and voluntary actions and allows clients to submit elections to IBKR for voluntary offers. When a voluntary corporate action election is submitted, IBKR will send confirmation to the Message Center within 30 seconds of the acceptance of the submitted choice. In the event a confirmation is not received, the customer must contact IBKR as non-confirmed elections will not be processed.
Clients can also view a history of the corporate actions pertaining to the account by clicking the Past Actions tab.
For more information on corporate actions and IBKR’s Corporate Action Manager, please see our website and user guide.
Resources
Join The Conversation
If you have a general question, it may already be covered in our FAQs. If you have an account-specific question or concern, please reach out to Client Services.