Portfolios crash along with online system

Frustrated day traders in Australia have watched the value of their share portfolios plummet because CommSec's online trading system appears unable to cope with busy periods.
During Tuesday's stockmarket meltdown customers of Australia's largest online share broker were at times locked out of the site or unable to process trades. Scores of irate customers contacted the Herald telling of regular faults and unresponsive customer service staff, but CommSec denied there was a serious problem. However, a CommSec employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "It all comes down to the [fact that the] technology within CommSec is not good enough to handle the sheer volume [of trades]."
The employee said that when CommSec's online trading system went down on Tuesday, his department's customer service team of 20 had 150 customers waiting on hold for up to 40 minutes. Abuse hurled at phone operators and general frustration with the technology meant the level of staff turnover was "ridiculous".
"On January 7 we saw about 10 people started and we keep seeing new faces in the team," he said.
CommSec's general manager, Matt Comyn, said that while he accepted full responsibility for Tuesday's breakdown and another in February last year, he was not aware of recurrent problems with the online trading system. Tuesday's cut was caused by a "software issue" and he insisted CommSec's servers could cope with a heavy load.
"I'm not saying that there haven't been any other issues on any other day, but not to that extent," he said.
Mr Comyn conceded CommSec had a large intake of new staff in early January but said that was not due to high turnover, but "consistent with our expansion and the growth of the market".
Steve Fraser, a full-time independent trader and CommSec customer for more than four years, insists Tuesday was not an isolated case. "They have had major IT problems as long as I have been using their service and seem unable to fix them … Put simply, customers cannot rely on CommSec on days like Tuesday when it really matters."
David Newlyn, a law lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, said the CommSec website "regularly has problems" and calls to its customer service staff go unanswered. "On Tuesday I wanted to place orders totalling more than $25,000 for purchasing rapidly dropping shares, but was unable to do so. Eventually I used an alternative online broker, Westpac … and had no problems."
Stuart Wilson, chief executive of the Australian Shareholders Association, said customers experiencing problems could contact the Financial Industry Complaints Service. "I have heard of settlements that involve compensation from online brokers including CommSec but there has to be a very strong case and it has to be well demonstrated."
But the market regulator, the Australian Securities Exchange, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it was a matter between CommSec and its customers.