By Lori EhdeMainStreet Financial Services in Luverne has bragging rights to being the first securities office in the country to use electronic signature technology.Local Financial Advisor Mike Cox said he’s pleased to be the beta testing site for the technology known as eSignature."We’re pretty excited about this," Cox said. "This will really be a great thing for our office."As a beta testing site, Cox’s office will provide feedback on how the new system works. Twenty other agents under Cox’s office of supervisory jurisdiction within INVEST Financial Corporation are also testing the equipment.INVEST is a member of National Planning Holdings Inc., which has developed the Web-based technology.Cox admits the technology itself isn’t a big deal. "For 25 years, people have been swiping their cards," he said. "We’re behind the rest of the world when it comes to this."The reason it’s taken so long in the securities industry, he said, is a cautious Securities and Exchange Commission."We’re dealing with people’s goals and objectives and their retirements," Cox said. "The SEC wants to test it to make sure it’s foolproof."MainStreet’s first client signed electronically on June 28, and Cox said his colleagues were standing by to see how it worked. "In a phone call to the program developers in Florida and Michigan, I could hear people cheering in the background," he said. "It did what they wanted it to do. Change is never easy, but we wanted to do this. … We never looked at it as a big deal, but to the programmers it was a big deal."Through an electronic signature pad in his office, Cox can have his clients e-sign required account opening and trading forms instead of having to navigate through piles of paper documents.E-signed documents are available live throughout the corporation, making processing more efficient.Among other things eSignature software:o eliminates the need to store hard copy files, oimmediately ensures paperwork is filled out completely and accurately, ooffers timely processing for both the client and the agent.Within five years, the goal is to become completely paperless, Cox said."What it will eventually lead to is electronic storage of client information," Cox said. "This will make it easier and more efficient."Cox checks in monthly with the software analysts to report on how the system is operating and to offer suggestions."Someone has to do the beta testing, and I’m thrilled to be the test site," Cox said.He said there will always be a need for "wet" signatures with real ink, but that method will soon be the exception.