Vancouver-based Qtrade Financial Group’s discount brokerage service tops the list for best overall customer experience in Surviscor’s 2016 Online Discount Brokerage scorCard Review.

Qtrade Investor’s first-place finish, with a score of 87%, dethroned Toronto-based Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) InvestorLine from the top spot, which it had claimed four times since 2011, according to an announcement from Toronto-based Surviscor on Friday. BMO InvestorLine fell to fourth place this year with a score of 76%,

“The results of this assessment validate our commitment to improving and streamlining the client experience and to offering competitive pricing to provide the absolute best value among Canada’s online brokerages,” says Catherine Wood, senior vice president and head of online brokerage at Qtrade, in a statement.

“The enhancements we made this year were inspired by client feedback and supported by client usage analytics, and thus far we’ve been very pleased by the positive reaction from our clients,” she adds.

Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia’s Scotia iTRADE service landed in second place with a score of 78%. This is the fifth consecutive year that the online brokerage has claimed a spot in the scorecard’s top three.

Toronto-based Questrade Financial Group Inc.’s online brokerage rose to third place with a score of 77%. It’s the first time the firm has made the top three in this particular ranking of discount brokerages.

“[This year] was a very busy year for many of the firms, which was great to see. The expansion of digital offerings beyond the traditional online experience has lead to some great new responsive website designs that cater to all digital channels,” says Glenn LaCoste, president of Surviscor, in a statement. “We are excited with the amount of movement in the rankings and to acknowledge the work of a few progressive firms who are taking customer experience to the next level.”

The full ranking of services by the 13 firms surveyed is as follows:

  • Qtrade Investor – 87%
  • Scotia iTRADE – 78%
  • Questrade – 77%
  • BMO InvestorLine – 76%
  • Virtual Brokers – 76%
  • Toronto-Dominion Bank Direct Investing – 72%
  • Royal Bank of Canada Direct Investing – 71%
  • Credential Direct – 69%
  • Desjardins Group Online Brokerage – 68%
  • Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Investor’s Edge – 63%
  • National Bank of Canada Direct Brokerage – 60%
  • HSBC Bank Canada InvestDirect – 53%
  • Laurentian Bank of Canada Discount Brokerage – 37%

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