Disnat online brokerage, a division of Desjardins Securities, is launching DisnatDirect, the first direct-access brokerage service offered by a financial institution in Canada.

Opening Wednesday at www.disnatdirect.com, DisnatDirect offers investors a direct, no-intermediary link to the market, and at a very attractive price.

Negotiation through direct access allows investors to be in instant contact with the stock exchanges and parallel markets (ECNs – Electronic Communication Networks) and to rapidly direct their market orders at the best moment.

“Twenty years ago, Disnat became the first discount broker in Canada,” explains Jean-Pierre De Montigny, president and CEO at Desjardins Securities. “Now, by launching DisnatDirect, the Desjardins Group is once again setting itself apart through its vision and becoming the first financial institution in Canada to offer a direct-access brokerage service to all our investors.”

The new DisnatDirect service offers investors two transaction platforms: DDpro and DDweb.

DDpro is a software application for very active investors. It provides wide-ranging access to the markets through level II stock exchange lists. DDpro’s dynamic tools enable the investor to consult 10 portfolios and eight graphics, and to use the intelligent stop order system. DDpro also makes it possible to access parallel markets and extended-hours trading sessions.

The DDweb platform provides an integrated transaction center for active investors. This high-performance transaction center simplifies investment by displaying all necessary negotiation data in the same window. DDweb also provides unlimited dynamic lists, as well as real-time account management.

According to Yves Néron, Head of Online Brokerage Division at Desjardins Securities, “In creating DisnatDirect, we relied on the finance expertise and online investment knowledge of the founders of the webfin.com Web site, Pascale Berthiaume, Renaud Berthiaume and Alexandre Pelletier. They have put the investment and transaction tools formerly reserved for professionals directly in the hands of investors, because DisnatDirect actually allows investors to transact in dynamic mode. It gives them access to full information in real time, all through ultra high-performance technology, and from only $9.95 per transaction.”