Questrade Financial Group says it’s rolling out a new trading platform called Questrade Pro, ratcheting up the competition between Canada’s largest online brokerages.
Questrade also announced it’s adding features like custom indexing and portfolio rebalancing to its existing platforms, which comes a little less than a month after Wealthsimple Inc. added a wave of capabilities including custom indexing and zero-commission options.
Meanwhile, Aviso Financial Inc.-owned Qtrade Direct Investing said in late October it was moving to a commission-free trading model and eliminating quarterly administrative fees for the platform.
Rob Galaski, president of Questrade, says the company’s latest rollout is meant to set an accelerated pace for the financial services industry.
The recent federal budget included plans to prohibit investment and registered account transfer fees, which currently cost $150 per account, on average. The measure is meant to help Canadians switch financial institutions more easily and will also require transfers to be completed in a timely manner. The government said it plans to introduce draft legislation in the spring.
Efforts to attract investors in recent years has resulted in Wealthsimple’s assets under administration rising to $100 billion from around $5 billion in 2019, while Questrade’s assets have grown to around $85 billion from $9 billion over the same period.
Questrade also secured a banking licence in early November and says it will outline its expansion plans next year, while Wealthsimple added numerous additional bank-like account features in June.