Posts Tagged ‘Bell’
Bell Direct Launches new SMS Share Trading for the ASX
Bell Direct Launches new SMS Share Trading for the ASX
Sydney, NSW (PRWEB) February 29, 2008
Bell Direct, Australia’s most innovative and competitively-priced online share trading platform, today launched the first ever SMS share trading service for the Australian Stock Exchange.
From today, Bell Direct customers will be able to enjoy the convenience of buying and selling shares on the ASX from their mobile phone via a simple SMS transaction that is easy, quick and secure.
Chief Operating Officer, Lee Muco, said “Bell Direct’s introduction of SMS share trading into Australia will provide investors with a new level of convenience and fast access to the stock market, allowing users to trade shares using their most familiar accessory – the mobile phone.”
“As long as investors have their mobile phone handy, Bell Direct SMS share trading enables them to trade shares even if they are away from their computer or without Internet access. Given the recent stock market volatility and downturn this functionality has become even more important for certain investors,” Mr. Muco said.
“Whilst Australian investors have previously been able to trade shares via mobile phones, they have had to do so by using WAP internet access, which compared to using SMS, is cumbersome, complicated and can be expensive. Accessing the internet on your phone is still nowhere near as fast and easy as sending an SMS and can carry all sorts of hidden data usage costs, and of course everybody is familiar with how to use SMS,” Mr, Muco said.
Bell Direct customers using SMS share trading will pay a fixed cost of only 55 cents per SMS, and benefit from Bell Direct’s market-beating online brokerage pricing of just $ 15 per trade.
Although brand new to Australia, SMS share trading is already extremely popular in South East Asian markets such as China, Malaysia and South Korea.
According to a recent report by US firm Research & Markets, at the end of 2007 there were 1.48 million mobile stock traders in China, a figure forecast to rise to 2.58 million by the end of 2008.
Mr. Muco said Bell Direct was confident that its SMS share trading facility would also be enthusiastically taken up by Australian investors.
“Australians are increasingly comfortable with SMS as a channel for financial transactions, and with the major banks introducing SMS banking, SMS share trading is a logical and exciting innovation for Bell Direct to introduce,” Mr. Muco said.
Bell Direct was launched in November last year and is the first new online share trading platform to begin operating in Australia in a decade. The company is part-owned by Bell Financial which listed on the ASX in December last year.
The Executive Chairman and principal architect of Bell Direct is Steven Goh, a true innovator in the online share trading industry. Mr Goh created Australia’s first online stockbroker, Sanford Securities, in 1997.
Mr. Goh said that cutting-edge, proprietary technology developed from the ground up and designed to enhance the customer experience was at the core of Bell Direct.
“Our SMS share trading service is an example of how our completely new trading platform is flexible enough to meet the demands of today’s investor for ever-more innovative and convenient products,” Mr. Goh said.
“In technological terms, and in the service we offer our customers we are streets ahead of our competitors, and SMS share trading is just the first of a raft of exciting innovations Bell Direct will be bringing to the Australian investment community this year,” he said.
About Bell Direct – http://www.belldirect.com.au
Bell Direct is the newest, most user-friendly and discount online share trading service available to investors in Australia , including the lowest cost-per-trade ever offered by an online broker at just $ 15, Bell Direct was developed by the same pioneering team that created Australia’s very first online share brokerage, What makes Bell Direct unique is its world-class, proprietary web 2.0 technology designed specifically for an enhanced customer experience and value proposition which competitors cannot match. Bell Direct is independent and Australian-owned, and has the backing of Bell Financial, the ASX-listed parent of one of Australia’s largest and most respected private client stockbroking firms, Bell Potter Securities. Visit Bell Direct to see the future of online share trading in Australia.
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City of Bell, Calif. Unveils New Transparent Website
City of Bell, Calif. Unveils New Transparent Website
BELL, Calif. (PRWEB) January 24, 2013
BELL, Calif. (January 24, 2013) Two years after its municipal pay controversy forever changed the way citizens across the country scrutinize local government finances, the City of Bell, Calif. has unveiled a new city website that makes city legislative activity and financial data easy to find and accessible to all citizens.
The new website http://www.cityofbell.org, designed in collaboration with Vision Internet, a national leader in government website development, and launched on December 24, 2012, was officially unveiled in a presentation to City leaders and local citizens at the January 16th open meeting of the Bell City Council.
“The City of Bell City Council’s desire for open government and greater information transparency had a great influence on the design and features of the Bell website,” said Steve Chapin, Vision Internet president. “Inspired by Bell’s commitment to good government reform and its dramatic turnaround, our government website design experts worked hand-in-hand with the City’s website team to create a website that serves up detailed data about how City government works and how taxpayer dollars are spent.”
Guided by the “10-point Transparency Checklist” created by the Sunshine Review, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about proactive disclosure; Institute For Local Government guidelines; and State of California transparency laws; the new Bell website features a “Transparency” tab on the main navigation toolbar, which is dedicated to presenting citizens with easy-to-find detailed financial information and other public documents.
“The new City of Bell website is an important tool in our effort to move the City forward and enhance transparency to City Hall functions,” said Bell Mayor Ali Saleh. “We have brought City Hall to residents’ front doors providing detailed information about local government and its services – information that can be conveniently accessed 24/7. By creating a new space in the virtual Bell neighborhood we’ve also relieved long lines at public counters while enabling residents to easily find recreation classes for their children, download City applications and forms, and submit public records requests directly to the City Clerk. This new website isn’t just a stark contrast to the past; it’s a complete 360 degree turn that clearly demonstrates our continued commitment to transparency.”
Bell citizens now can easily find and review the annual city budget, financial statements, investments, salaries of all public officials and employees, and even the city’s electronic checkbook. Other options under “Transparency” include Bell City Council policies, details on taxes, zoning and building permits, and Statements of Economic Interest by city officials with decision-making authority.
As a result, Bell is being called a model in the ‘quiet revolution’ in local government. “Local budget crises, the growing number of online social and mobile platforms, and the public’s expectation of 24/7 access are changing the relationship between local government and its citizens,” Chapin said. “Transparency is the key that can open the door to community problem solving. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the City of Bell’s new approach, where the dedication of newly–elected public officials, administrators and City employees have resulted in this innovative community portal.”
An important feature of the new website is the incorporation of Google Translator to accommodate the needs of Bell residents who prefer to receive information in their native languages, including Spanish and Arabic.
For those members of the community who do not have internet or computer access, the City continues to provide free public access computers at all City facilities including parks, the Bell Community Center and the Bell Technology Center, where residents can surf the Web and explore the new City of Bell website.
“The age of government transparency is still in the early stages as the momentum shifts from ‘Should we do it?’ to ‘How do we make government data easily accessible to those who need it?’” Chapin said. “The City of Bell is a model of civic renewal and we are proud to have played a part in the journey.”
For more information about Vision Internet’s transformative government website technology, please call 888-263-8847 or visit http://www.visioninternet.com/freedemo.
About Vision Internet
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Vision Internet is the national leader in government website development with nearly 500 government, non-profit and education clients across the U.S. and Canada. Over the past 17 years, Vision Internet has created industry-defining websites for communities ranging in populations of less than 1,000 residents to more than 5 million. The company has earned hundreds of prestigious industry awards for its unique websites, and recently launched its latest content management system visionCMS™, a powerful, easy to use tool developed with feedback from hundreds of municipal clients. For more information visit http://www.visioninternet.com
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©Copyright 1997-
, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.