For the fourth time in as many reviews, Credential Direct held top honours as the premier online brokerage firm for Canadians, according to the newly released Winter 2008 Surviscor analysis.

Credential Direct retained both the “overall” and the “investor” top spots for an unprecedented fourth consecutive analysis. Disnat, Desjardins’ discount brokerage firm, is awarded the top spot in the trader profile for the first time, moving ahead of TD Waterhouse who held the position for three consecutive reviews.

As was the case in the Summer 2007 review, the Winter 2008 results identified major shifts in price point, with minor changes in features and functionality across the firms.

The analysis by Oakville, Ont.-based Surviscor focuses on online features and functionality offered by firms in Canada through two profiles using seven categories, including price.

In the overall profile, BMO Investorline climbed into second place with TD Waterhouse holding a slight edge over Qtrade in third place.

The trader profile produced the closest race once again with Disnat moving into the top spot. The trader profile remains very clustered at the top with E*Trade moving into second place, and TD Waterhouse dropping to third.

In the investor profile, BMO InvestorLine improved to second place with Qtrade dropping one position to third.

The analysis also reviewed the responsiveness of the firms to customer emails through its Customer Efficiency Rating (CER). BMO InvestorLine and CIBC online banking were recently named the top CER firms for 2007.

According to the Winter 2008 results, price continues to take centre stage as the top feature and functionality improvement. “It is amazing that the price war continues to be the main topic of interest,” says Surviscor president Glenn LaCoste. “The firms are trying different, yet similar, approaches to cater to both the transactional customer and the asset-based customer with a lower cost per trade,” adds LaCoste.