The race to secure the broking clients of Sanford Securities (Sanford) has intensified with Bell Direct and Etrade Australia joining CommSec in the hunt.
Late last year CommSec's parent Commonwealth Bank of Australia bought wealth management and broking group IWL, including Sanford.
As a result more than 60,000 Sanford clients have until the end of this month to select a new broker.
Until Bell Direct and Etrade Australia announced their interest, CommSec looked to be the likely home for Sanford clients.
"It comes as no surprise, it's a competitive market. If anything we expected a response earlier. I would expect to see some offers out to the Sanford clients. It's certainly something that we anticipated," CommSec managing director Matt Comyn said.
"We are obviously the largest broker so we're confident that we've got the best service offering and proposition in the marketplace. We're certainly hopeful that all the Sanford clients will come across."
Bell Direct chief operating officer Lee Muco said his group's offer is not only extended to Sanford clients but the sometimes forgotten clients of IWL-owned group Avocol Stockbroking.
"The automatic migration occurs on January 29, so across Christmas a lot of Sanford clients who were taking the time to think about what they perhaps were going to do and perhaps not realising the gravity of what's about to occur," Muco said.
"So for us it was best for us to remind them in the weeks leading up to the migration that they do have a choice."
While Comyn was unable to comment on the number of clients who have already moved across, Muco stated Bell Direct has a steady stream of both Sanford and Avocol clients.
Etrade Australia announced its intention to target Sanford clients late last week through newspaper advertisements.
Etrade Australia was not available for comment by deadline.
Bell Direct is the broking arm of listed financial services group Bell Financial.
