Canadian bank-owned brokerages and independent firms are engaged in a competitive struggle to win the hearts and pocketbooks of online users, according to the Winter 2002 Internet Scorecard launched today by Gomez Canada, the Internet Quality Measurement firm.
BMO InvestorLine has moved ahead of its competitors to capture first place among online brokers, Gomez Canada found. The design and layout of the site and the addition of persistent planning tools helped InvestorLine gain the top spot.
TD Waterhouse ranked second, followed by E*Trade. CIBC’s Investor’s Edge platform, jumped from ninth to fifth place, while Qtrade, a British Columbia-based firm, finished seventh with an impressive, content rich site.
“We have seen a significant amount of development and implementation by firms in the last 12 months, despite a soft operating environment induced by the economic downturn and events such as September 11,” said Guy van Rooyen, Senior Analyst with Gomez Canada, “There is, however, still a significant gap in most offers, with financial planning being largely overlooked despite a growing demand for this feature from consumers.”
Among the report’s other findings, Gomez found that only 23% of firms ranked offer some form of customizable planning tool, despite the fact that over 60% of Canadian investors fall into the Life Goal Planner category,
As well, over 50% of Canadians have serious concerns regarding security and privacy online, yet firms aren’t providing the guidance and guarantees to allay these fears.
The rankings in the Winter 2002 scorecard are as follows (previous Scorecard finish in parentheses):
- BMO InvestorLine (3rd)
- TD Waterhouse (4th)
- E(*)Trade (1st)
- Schwab Canada (5th)
- CIBC Investor’s Edge (9th)
- Royal Bank Action Direct (6th)
- Qtrade (New entrant)
- Scotiabank (7th)
- eNorthern(2nd)
- Merrill Lynch HSBC (10th)
- National Bank Invesnet (8th)
- Credential Direct (New entrant)
- Sun Life Securities (11th)
The Scorecards are produced by Gomez experts, who assess performance against more than 250 objective criteria related to specific elements of quality in the Internet delivery of services.
“Our goal is to determine how well online brokerage services firms are meeting the needs of their customers,” concluded van Rooyen.