Exclusive: A Year in Review and Look Ahead from Canada’s Online Brokerages

National Bank Direct Brokerage

2014 was a banner year for National Bank Direct Brokerage (NBDB).

We began the year by redesigning our fee schedule. Following this redesign, the standard rate for an equity trade regardless of the size of the account or the level of activity, is $9.95. This drops to $6.95 per trade for active investors who execute a minimum of 30 trades a quarter. The standard $100 annual administration fee is waived for anyone who holds at least $20,000 of assets in their accounts, or who executes at least 5 trades during a year. Bottom line? For the do-it-yourself investor, managing a portfolio has never been more affordable.

But buying and selling is just part of the equation. Equally, if not more important is the lineup of products, services and tools that a direct brokerage offers to support clients in their planning and investment decision making. In 2014 NBDB enhanced its electronic reporting capabilities by adding online monthly statements and tax documents to its service offering. We also introduced a full range U.S. dollar-denominated registered plan accounts for investors who want to diversify their currency exposure beyond the Canadian dollar.

Our platform now includes a Morningstar-powered Goal Planner – that allows clients to map out scenarios with different assumptions to determine whether their current “behavior” will allow them to achieve their financial goals, or whether remedial action is required.

2014 also saw the launch of InvestCube – an innovative new service that targets what we strongly believe to be an under served segment of the market – autonomous investors who want a simple, affordable solution that will allow them to manage their wealth without having to constantly worry about monitoring their investments. InvestCube is a service that gives clients the choice of 5 portfolios built exclusively with ETFs with asset mixes that correspond to 5 different investor profiles. The portfolios are automatically rebalanced on a monthly basis when the weighting of one or more of the ETFs deviate by more than 10% from the target allocation. With InvestCube, our clients can say good-bye to transaction fees, since initial purchase and all of the rebalancing transactions are executed free of charge. The total “all-in” cost for the balanced InvestCube portfolio comes in at 0.99%.

How do we see 2015 at National Bank Direct Brokerage? Our belief is that 2015 will be the year of education. Do-It-Yourself investing is becoming increasingly popular, and a growing number of people want to learn more about how to manage their own investments. That is why we will be focusing on education and tools. There will be more seminars and webinars on different finance related subjects as well as new features made available to our clients on our platform.

Finally, we will continue to place clients at the center of our business model by sparing no efforts to deliver superior customer service. At NBDB, we firmly believe that self-directed doesn’t mean being left alone. While our clients make their own investment decisions, we are there to support them in every way possible – by phone, over the web or in person – to help them reach their financial goals.

Nancy Paquet
President
National Bank Direct Brokerage

To learn more about National Bank Direct Brokerage, visit their website at www.nbdb.ca or view our profile of National Bank Direct Brokerage here.