'The miracle of the Web experience is that it doesn't matter where you are,' said James Sun, managing director, Asia-Pacific at Charles Schwab, which pioneered online trading in 1996.

'People who move around a lot are looking for convenience, but they don't want to lose control. They need to manage a diversified global equity portfolio and want easy access to know how it is performing.'

Mr Sun said that the firm divided its clientele into three broad categories - delegators, self-directed and validators.

Typically, the first group will say: 'Here's my money, handle it for me.' People in the second prefer to do their own research and are content to rely on the Web platform. Those in the third also want to make the decisions and have a sense of control, but are heavily dependent on getting the right advice.

To meet these distinct needs, the firm had to find the right formula for each investor.

'We have to engage them with both the Web and a personal relationship to differentiate ourselves,' Mr Sun said.

'It is easy to do everything online, but we want to make sure the human element is always there.'

He said that once a client had opened an account - with a minimum of US$10,000 - he or she had the same account number, set-up and individual serving them no matter where they were. Via the website, it was possible to do research on global stocks and mutual funds, check them against Schwab equity ratings, find comparative information supplied by Standard & Poor's and Morningstar, and effect trades.

'You can do everything - buy and sell, move your positions and rebalance,' Mr Sun said. 'We have spent tonnes of money to make sure a security breach has never happened, and we are now adding extra research capabilities and an advanced platform for more sophisticated traders.'

However, he pointed out that certain clients still needed a lot of advice on how to build up and manage a global portfolio.

For this reason, the firm pays particular attention to establishing strong personal relationships and goes out of its way to maintain them. There are regular visits to clients in major Asian cities and invitations for them to attend small-scale investment seminars with speakers from the United States. Or, after checking portfolios every quarter, the firm will give investors a call if they see a need to adjust or feel a new opportunity is worth considering.

'Those conversations require a lot of sophistication from our financial consultants to help clients do the right thing,' Mr Sun said. 'But it is how we generate loyalty and is a win-win situation.'

He added that for customers who wanted immediate advice, there was a 24-hour service hotline.

This was manned by in-house professionals in Hong Kong and San Francisco, who were fully trained, licensed and spoke English, Putonghua and Cantonese.

Mr Sun noted that, especially for clients in the Greater China region, this type of support service was vital. Increasingly, they tended to be entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals who travelled the world on business and, predictably, were interested in investing their personal assets according to a globally diversified model.

'That is a growing part of our business,' Mr Sun said. 'Particularly with Chinese clients, you need to help them through the education process.

'They may know how to create wealth, but they need help with asset diversification to preserve it,' Mr Sun said.

He said that the firm's 'advised portfolio' recommended a balance of equities, fixed-income products and a cash portion in money market funds.

There could also be an exploratory part to look at specific countries, markets or industry sectors.

However, the overall approach should be to take a disciplined long-term approach to allocating in the global arena.

'You maintain the core part of the portfolio for 10 or 15 years,' he said. 'You don't want to change that too much.'