(September 26 – 11:00 ET) – Gomez, an Internet quality measurement firm, is launching GomezCanada with the release of Canadian Internet scorecards for the financial services industry. The scorecards rank the customer experience of 18 online banks and 10 online brokerage firms.
Don Rolfe, managing director of GomezCanada, announced that E*Trade gained the top rating among online brokers, while TD Bank received top ranking for having the best overall banking site.
“The sites were evaluated by Gomez experts utilizing more than 150 objective criteria to determine how well they are serving their customers, based on performance in five different categories of service,” Rolfe said. “Our goal is to determine the degree to which Canadian online brokers are serving their customers, and whether online banking services are meeting customer needs.”
In the Internet broker scorecard, E*Trade was followed by Charles Schwab with RBC Action Direct, third. Other top 10 finishers, in order, were, BMO Investor Line, TD Waterhouse, eNorthern, CIBC Investor’s Edge, HSBC InvestDirect, National Bank and Sun Securities.
The firms were also judged for their service in each of four customer profile categories, consisting of Active Traders, Serious Investors, Life Goal Planners, and One-stop Shoppers. E*Trade was rated as the best broker in every category except One-stop Shopper, where BMO InvestorLine was deemed to provide the best service.
In the Internet banker scorecard, Royal Bank gained the second place position, close behind winner TD Bank. Canada Trust was third.
Other results, in order, were Citizens Bank of Canada, HSBC, Bank of Montreal, Laurentian Bank, Vancity Savings, President’s Choice Financial, Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank, Desjardins, CIBC, Niagara Credit Union Limited, ING Direct, Capital City Savings, Pacific Coast Savings, and Richmond Savings Bank.
The banks also were rated for performance in four customer profile categories — Internet Transactor, Saver, Borrower and One-stop Shopper. TD Bank scored best in all categories except for Savers, where Citizens Bank of Canada was rated best.
Gomez, based in Lincoln, Mass., created the first Internet scorecards in 1997.The scorecards are updated quarterly and are available at www.gomez.com.
Rolfe said GomezCanada will initially focus on financial services and the insurance industry. Its first Canadian insurance scorecard is scheduled for release in October, while a second scorecard on banks and brokerage firms will be published in December.
-IE Staff