(June 12 – 15:05 ET) – E-commerce rating firm, Gomez Advisors, has rated Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. as the top full-service broker online.
Gomez has just released its first-ever survey on full-service brokers in the U.S., giving top spot to Merrill overall and naming it the top choice in the long-term investor, active investor and one-stop shopper categories. It lauds Merrill for the most features and functions of any online full-service firm, rating it just ahead of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. PaineWebber rates third, followed by Prudential Securities, Piper Jaffray, and Salomon Smith Barney.
The ratings are based on at least 100 objective criteria. To be included in the survey firms must offer Internet trading, proprietary research and IPOs, a captive advisor force, and a network of branch offices. Merrill’s rating is just for the full-service side, not its discount arm, ML Direct. The discounters are rated separately.
On the discount side, E*Trade is the top-rated firm, followed by Charles Schwab. Both firms have Canadian subsidiaries. Canada’s TD Waterhouse ranks fifth overall, the only Canadian-based firm to make the top twenty.
Royal Bank’s Bull & Bear Securities Inc. ranks 40th out of 56 firms and is slipping. Gomez says it was ranked in the mid teens a year ago but it continues to slide, Gomez cites its lack of financial planning tools and educational content as the reason for the lousy rating.
Harris Investorline, the offering from Bank of Montreal subsidiary Harris Bank rates even lower at 50th. Gomez says its key shortfalls are a lack of integration on the site, and no interactive application process.