For the second time in a row, TD Waterhouse has earned the top spot in a semi-annual scorecard of online discount brokerages, getting high marks for market intelligence, website design, and other features.

In the Winter 2010 Surviscor Online Discount Brokerage scorCard, conducted between January and March, TD Waterhouse earned the highest score of 14 brokerages in Canada. The scorCard audits the online features and functionalities of the brokerages based on seven main categories and 31 sub-categories, and scores each firm on a 100-point scale.

With a score of 59.62, TD Waterhouse widened its lead on five-time winner Credential Direct, which earned a score of 58.10. TD earned the top spot in four of the seven main categories: website design, market intelligence, website transactions, and online resources.

Close behind the two leaders were Qtrade, at 56.91, BMO InvestorLine, at 56.86, and RBC Direct Investing, at 56.49.

BMO InvestorLine won the top spot in the ‘getting started’ category, which measured the public website features for existing and potential customers prior to actual login. This category is a key area of weakness for many of the brokerages, Surviscor noted.

Questrade, which was ranked ninth overall, was found to offer the lowest cost of services.

The Bank of Nova Scotia’s two discount brokerage websites, Scotia McLeod Direct Investing and Scotia iTrade, were ranked sixth and seventh place, respectively. Surviscor noted that Scotiabank could benefit from combining and improving its existing brand platforms into a single new website.

Of the cross-Canada banked owned firms, HSBC Invest Direct earned the lowest score, at 43.76. In last place overall was Laurentian Bank Direct Brokerage, with a score of 32.99.

Improvements could be made by all of the brokerages, according to Glenn LaCoste, president of Surviscor.

“There is still major room for improvement,” said LaCoste. “The main concern is that no firm has taken its offering to the next level to reach a more respectable score closer to the maximum of 100.”

IE