2004 Broker Survey
	The Globe and Mail's 2004 On-line Broker Report
	Profiles
	Click a broker to view contact info, services offered and fee schedules BMO Investorline CIBC Investor's Edge Credential Direct Disnat eNorthern E*Trade Canada HSBC Invest Direct National Bank Discount Brokerage Qtrade Investor RBC Action Direct ScotiaMcLeod Direct Investing TD Waterhouse

THE GLOBE AND MAIL'S ON-LINE BROKER SURVEY

BMO still top of class

In Globe Investor's yearly look at on-line brokers, ROB CARRICK reports on the good, the bad and the just plain ugly

Saturday, September 06, 2003

This is a time of sweet vindication for the on-line brokers who defied the epic bear market of the past few years by building a better product.

With the stock market in revival mode, these brokers are ready to welcome a new crop of on-line investors and retain the business of old clients who are starting to trade more actively again.

A perfect example would have to be BMO InvestorLine, which ranks No. 1 in The Globe and Mail's on-line brokerage survey for the second straight year. Here's a broker that offers an ideal package for on-line investors: Reasonable costs, a well-crafted Web site and the tools and services needed to build a successful portfolio.

Other top-ranked brokers this year include E*Trade Canada, a close second, and TD Waterhouse, a winner a few years ago.

Next come a gaggle of solid but not spectacular players, followed by the also-rans. In standing still in the past few years, or even slipping back, these laggards have opened a wider-than-ever gap between themselves and the elite. You'll see this reflected in the marks below.

Before we get to this year's rating criteria, let's look at the sort of investor for whom this survey is designed.

First off, this individual would trade stocks periodically, while also investing in mutual funds and, most likely, bonds. In no way would he or she be classified a hyperactive trader.

The target investors for this fifth-annual survey are Web savvy, so they'll be demanding about the sophistication of a broker's on-line service. While they understand the markets, these investors nevertheless want tools and research to help them build a portfolio blueprint and then choose individual stocks, funds and bonds.

Finally, these investors understand the way that the fees and commissions a broker charges can affect their returns.

A total of 12 brokers were evaluated this year on six criteria.

Cost:

Commissions for trading stocks and funds are most important here, but annual administration fees for registered retirement savings plans and account inactivity fees were also given some weight. Only on-line commissions are considered here because trading by phone is so much more expensive.

The on-line experience:

Public Web sites are the first contact investors have with an on-line broker, so they're evaluated here. But more weight is put on the utility and design of the secure Web site for clients. State-of-the-art brokers have account summaries that are updated in real time and show the book value of your holdings so you can document at a glance how you're doing.

Tools:

Analyst reports for stocks and funds, stock- and fund-screening tools and financial planning software are all highly desirable. Lower marks are given for tools that are available elsewhere on the Web at no cost.

Trading:

The best brokers offer a precision trading platform that gives you short-selling of stocks, limit orders and real-time tallies of how much money you have available in your account to invest. On-line bond trading is a must for consideration as an elite broker.

Electronic services:

This section is all about giving the client ways to conduct business or do administrative tasks electronically, as opposed to wasting time while waiting to speak to someone on the telephone.

Customer satisfaction:

Marks in this category come from an on-line survey of 2,509 investors conducted in August on the Globeinvestor.com Web site. Participants were asked to indicate whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied with their brokers.

View more results:

• On-Line Brokerage Report Card: A letter-grade ranking of each brokerage.
• On-Line Score Sheet: How each brokerage scored.
• Satisfaction Survey: Results of the Globeinvestor.com survey

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Comments? Come on, everyone has an opinion about who the best and worst brokers are. Send your thoughts to rcarrick@nospam.globeandmail.ca