Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RBC) has outperformed its competitors in the realm of online banking for the second consecutive year in Surviscor’s Online Banking scorCard.

In the annual study of online features and functionality at major Canadian banking institutions, released on Thursday, RBC earned the highest score, at 84%.

“RBC Royal Bank topped the scorCard again because they didn’t rest on their laurels and continued to enhance their online services,” said Glenn LaCoste, president of Oakville, Ont.-based Surviscor Inc.

In second place was Toronto-Dominion Bank’s (TSX:TD) TD Canada Trust, which earned a score of 79%, followed by Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) at 76%. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM) and Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) tied for fourth place with scores of 70%.

It’s the first time in the history of the scorCard study that the Big Five banks have taken the top five spots in the rankings. Altogether, 16 banking institutions were assessed in the study.

The study measures more than 2,000 objective criteria in five main categories: customer support, website transactions, getting started, website design and service rates and fees.

RBC stood out for its strong customer interaction and support, robust transactional capabilities, and a budgeting tool that helps clients analyze their spending habits, called ‘MyFinancialTracker’.

“I’m very pleased that RBC has received this recognition for the second year in a row,” said James McGuire, vice president of digital strategy and experience at RBC. “Our goal is to make it easy, convenient and safe for our clients to bank online. We’ll continue to add more features and functionality so clients can manage their finances when and where they want.”

TD Canada Trust earned the highest marks in the categories getting started and website design, and Coast Capital Savings scored highest in the service rates and fees category.

BMO moved up in the rankings substantially to third spot from eighth last year due to major site improvements. It was recognized for its mobile banking application and a new budgeting tool called ‘MoneyLogic,’ which is similar to RBC’s ‘MyFinancialTracker’.

Ally Financial Inc. was featured in the study for the first time, and earned a score of just 34%, landing it in 15th spot. Manulife Bank was in last place with a score of 27%.

Overall, LaCoste said banking institutions are striving to provide better online services. “But,” he added, “the scorCard shows there’s always room for improvements.”