Harrisdirect, the U.S. direct investing business of Bank of Montreal has garnered a four-star rating in Barron’s magazine’s seventh annual survey of online brokerage services.

The Barron’s rating was based on an evaluation of CSFBdirect, which was acquired by Bank of Montreal in February. CSFBdirect is now a member of The Harris, Bank of Montreal’s U.S. wealth management businesses, and is being integrated with The Harris’ existing direct investing business to form Harrisdirect, under president and CEO Bruce Schwenger.

Harrisdirect provides investment services by telephone, online, or in person at over 20 Investment Centers located across the U.S.

In a competitive analysis involving 22 online brokers, Harrisdirect received the magazine’s four-star rating and tied for second in the overall ranking of online investing companies. Barron’s noted the wide range of offerings and solid research and reports provided, saying, “Harrisdirect has been working hard on tools that appeal to long-term investors rather than frequent traders.”

Barron’s ranks the brokerage services based on trade execution process, ease of use, range of product offerings, research amenities, reporters and customer access, and cost.

“Given the intense competition in this business, we are pleased to see that Barron’s results shows Harrisdirect ranks among the biggest names in the industry and is recognized as a high-quality, online investing provider,” said Gilles Ouellette, president and CEO, Bank of Montreal Private Client Group.