BMO Capital Markets has closed the gap with perennial Canadian fixed-income market leader RBC Capital Markets, according to a new report from Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Greenwich Associates published on Tuesday.

BMO and RBC are now in a statistical dead heat atop the Canadian fixed-income market, with TD Securities Inc. and Bank of Nova Scotia tied for third place, followed by National Bank Financial Ltd. and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the report states.

Specifically, the Greenwich report points out that BMO’s market share gains have come mainly in rates products whereas RBC has maintained its dominance in credit products.

The results are based on interviews with institutional investors that are active in fixed-income in Canada, conducted between February and May 2015.

RBC is still the leader in quality, the reports notes, as it ranks first in all three categories of fixed-income sales, trading and research. However, BMO has made “significant advances in quality ratings over the past year”, the report says, earning a spot as a quality leader in fixed-income research.

“Also notable for its improvements in quality over the past 12 months is TD Securities,” says Peter Kane, consultant with Greenwich, in the report.

“In terms of market penetration, or the share of Canadian institutional investors using each firm as a dealer in fixed-income, the trio of RBC Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities is starting to separate itself from the pack,” Kane adds.

The growth of electronic trading in the fixed-income area has slowed over the past year, the report notes, and overall volumes appear to have declined compared with the previous year. In addition, the major dealers have stepped up their commitments to electronic trading, the report says, winning back market share that had been lost to smaller fixed-income dealers in recent years.

“The plateau in e-trading volumes is almost certainly temporary and likely attributable to the general slowdown in trading volumes in Canadian government bonds among hedge funds and other particularly active institutional traders,” Kane says in the report.