Qtrade Investor
Qtrade Investor: Listening to our clients is the key to success
By Catherine Wood, Senior VP and Head of Online Brokerage, Digital Advice, Insurance, Product and Marketing, Qtrade Financial Group
It’s been a busy and eventful year! Qtrade Investor was once again ranked Canada’s best online brokerage by The Globe and Mail, MoneySense and Surviscor. We also joined forces with Credential Financial and NEI Investments to form our new parent company, Aviso Wealth. This enabled us to welcome thousands of clients from Credential Direct. Plus, being part of one of Canada’s largest independent financial providers improves our ability to continue to enhance our platform.
While market activity and trading volumes challenged the entire industry’s ability to maintain high service standards, we continued to expand our team to ensure that we provide the knowledgeable, accurate and responsive service that our clients have come to expect.
In addition, we implemented several enhancements based on responses to our annual client survey, user analytics data, feedback from our client newsletter, and increased engagement over social media. Now Qtrade Investor is even more intuitive, powerful and secure.
Here are a few highlights and a sneak peek at some plans for 2019.
Tutorials and support to welcome new clients
We introduced visual mini-tutorials to help clients learn how to navigate our site and perform basic actions, such as funding your portfolio, reviewing holdings and placing trades. We’ve also added to our collection of how-to videos on YouTube.
When clients call us, they can now get answers to common questions 24/7 — without waiting to talk to a representative. They can also use our callback feature to ask for a return call instead of waiting on hold.
It’s now faster for clients to find specific stocks for their portfolios, with predictive stock search results and a new search bar right on the home dashboard.
Expanded insights and planning tools
Our expanded portfolio views give clients even more insight into their investments. The Asset Allocation and Analyst Views now include all accounts, while the Income View includes insight into Future Income data.
For clients investing in registered accounts, we added goal-setting and contribution tracking tools, and introduced in-kind stock transfers, to move eligible securities from a Cash or Margin account into a TFSA or RRSP without having to sell and rebuy.
To test and track ideas, our watchlists are being upgraded to incorporate more popular functionality, such as alerts, in a single convenient interface.
Research and data for active investors
Our research and data capabilities also expanded. We introduced a streaming quotes service, which features real-time Level I and II data from Quotestream. In addition to analyst reports from Morningstar, we are now pleased to offer premium market research from Desjardins Capital Market and another Recognia technical trading newsletter.
Helping clients control their trading costs
Qtrade Investor is known for low fees, including $8.75 trades ($6.95 for more active traders). This year, we lowered our margin rates, and made it easier for clients to select low-cost mutual funds.
Sneak peek: What we have planned for 2019
We made an unprecedented number of enhancements to our platform and service this year. But we’re not stopping there. Here’s a quick look at what’s next.
- Two-factor authentication for enhanced security
- Mobile app improvements for greater functionality and overall ease of use
- New portfolio planner tools to help clients build or optimize their portfolio
- Significant upgrades to our stock and ETF screeners
Thank you to everyone who shared their input and helped make Qtrade Investor Canada’s top-ranked online brokerage once again in 2018!
Online brokerage services are offered through Qtrade Investor, a division of Credential Qtrade Securities Inc., Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.
Catherine oversees Aviso’s online and digital wealth businesses, with a focus on empowering Canadians with best-in-class online investing and wealth choices. She is also responsible for company-wide marketing and innovation services, which drive business results and define strategies to ensure that Aviso remains relevant in a fast-changing market.
Previously Catherine served as Senior VP and Head of Online Brokerage, Digital Advice, Insurance, Product, and Marketing at Qtrade Financial Group. In that role, she built strategies and teams designed to strengthen the Qtrade brand and bolster the financial health of the organization.
Before joining Qtrade, Catherine worked in a senior management capacity for leading national financial institutions including Canada Life, Assante and TD Bank. In these roles, she led business units to achieve impressive results through building strong foundations, expanding markets and developing future leaders.
Catherine was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2017 and 2016; one of the Top 50 Wealth Professionals in Canada in 2017; and one of the Top 50 Women in Life Insurance in 2014. She serves as a Board Member of Advocis and of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, and she is an Executive Committee Member of the International Women’s Forum. She is also a past Trustee for the Institute for Advanced Financial Education and a past Board Member of the Financial Planning Standards Council. Catherine earned an MBA as well as a Master of Information Studies from the University of Toronto. She holds an Honours BA from York University and a BA from Western University. Her professional designations include Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter and Tax and Estate Practitioner.
To learn more about Qtrade Investor, visit www.qtrade.ca.