Canadian discount brokerages seem to be busy in their workshops planning what to unveil for next year. Many of the major financial institutions have their financial year end at October 31st which means they’re setting budgets and planning marketing campaigns for 2013. Because of the upcoming Globe and Mail discount brokerage rankings due out next week (see below), marketing teams are holding their breath as to how to respond.
In the meantime, a couple of Canadian discount brokerages are jumping the gun with some new promotions. Scotia iTrade just launched a new “refer a friend” promotion, in which referring business to them can get you either a) $50 or $100 dollars or b) 10 or 50 trades free. If the most recent J.D. Power & Associates Investor Satisfaction rankings prove to be correct, however, Scotia iTrade may find getting referral business from their clients a bit of a challenge. The number of Canadian discount brokerages currently offering “refer a friend” deals is now three (Questrade and BMO Investorline are the other two). For updated details on discount brokerage promotions, see our deals page here.
Questrade appears to be heavily promoting their new Ring the Bell with Questrade campaign (with spots on StockTwits and BNN) in which the grand prize winner will get to ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ Marketsite in New York City. In addition to airfare, hotel and $500 in spending money, you will get broadcast on the famous NASDAQ MarketSite screen (which you can see a live webcam of here). For more information on the “Ring the Bell with Questrade” contest, click here.
Also, as mentioned in this article in the Globe and Mail, this week Rob Carrick will release his annual Canadian discount brokerage ranking. We know that discount brokerages are eagerly awaiting this year’s results as this comparison, along with the J.D. Power and Associates ranking are great publicity for the discount brokerages. If you’re interested in Canadian discount brokerage rankings, look out for our upcoming special “comparison of comparisons” series where we compare the different comparisons of discount brokerages.
Event Horizon
This week will be a busy one for HSBC as they are taking their series, “Global economic forecast – the world in 2013 and beyond” across the country. This seminar will take place in Toronto (Nov. 19th), Saskatoon (Nov. 20th), Edmonton (Nov. 21st), Calgary (Nov. 22rd) and Vancouver (Nov. 23rd). To register for the event you have to be a member of the site Business Without Borders. Membership to the website is free as is entrance to the talks. For more information click here.
Best Canadian Discount Brokerage Tweet of the Week
This week’s best discount brokerage tweet comes from the affiliate of Disnat Direct, @DesjardinsGroup. Typically the tweets from @DesjardinsGroup point to interesting articles in the news elsewhere, but a link to original economics research caught our eye. Specifically, the report on what might happen to the U.S. dollar going into the much talked about fiscal cliff. To read the tweet, and the article, click here.
The People Have Spoken
This week, a post by J Watts in the Canadian Money Forum, started an interesting discussion on the “Best Bank for Mutual Funds and Direct Investing”. If, like J Watts, you’re a long-time holder of mutual funds, you might want to have a peek at what others had to say.