J.D. Power & Associates – Page 2

Posted on November 16, 2012 by user

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Nov. 16/2012

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 31^st 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. 19^th), Saskatoon (Nov. 20^th), Edmonton (Nov. 21^st), Calgary (Nov. 22^rd) and Vancouver (Nov. 23^rd). 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.

Posted on September 21, 2012 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Round Up – Sept. 21/2012

Discount Brokerage Weekly roundup:

The big news this week in the world of Canadian online discount brokerages was the release of the 2012 JD Power & Associates Canadian Discount Brokerage Investor Satisfaction Survey results. With Disnat coming out on top, followed by BMO Investorline and National Bank Direct Brokerage, the survey showed that while Canadian discount brokerages are improving, they still have some catching up to do with their American discount brokerage counterparts. To read more about the ratings, click here.

Canadian Discount Brokerage Tweet of the week:

@virtual_brokers for their article on protective puts http://bit.ly/NHH70O

Event Horizon:

TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage is planning a “trader’s expo” this weekend at the TD Waterhouse Investor Centre in Coquitlam. Details can be found here

The people have spoken:

An article about the launch earlier this month of the BMO Investorline AdviceDirect platform to assist retail investors has certainly stirred some investors up.

At the time of writing:

The top rated comment (25 points)from “TheBluesMan” : “1% is ridiculous for this arms length advice. Another cash cow for the brokerage.”

And the lowest rated comment (-4 points) from “EJJ”: “Ya, like I would listen to advice from a bankster. That’s hilarious!”

Posted on September 20, 2012 by user — Leave a comment

Canadian Discount Brokerage Investor Satisfaction Results – 2012

JD Power and Associates have just released the results of the 2012 survey of Investor Satisfaction℠ with Canadian discount brokerages.

Between June and July of 2012, 2900 Canadian retail investors were surveyed about their level of satisfaction with their discount brokerages. Data was obtained for 12 Canadian discount brokerages, although results for Credential Direct were not reported due to insufficient sample size. “Investor Satisfaction” was measured on a 1000 point scale, and covered areas such as trading charges and fees, interaction, problem resolution, financial planning tools, website accessibility and services and seminars.

In terms of scoring, the Canadian discount brokerage industry average score of investor satisfaction in Canada was about 700, with the highest score of the group (768) going to Disnat and the lowest score (656) going to Scotia iTrade. To put those numbers into context, US investors found their discount brokerage experience far more satisfying with an industry average of 768. To put that into perspective, the best scoring Canadian discount brokerage on this scale would be considered just average south of the border.

So where are Canadian discount brokerages falling short? It seems that there are some perceived gaps in problem resolution, trading charges and ‘interaction’. One very noteworthy statistic has to do with loyalty of Canadian investors to their investment firm. This survey found that only 19% (or 1 out 5) of Canadian investors strongly agreed to being loyal to their primary investment firm with 23% of respondents saying they “definitely will” recommend their primary investment firm. Put another way, it seems that 4 out 5 Canadian investors won’t be strongly loyal to their primary investment firm, a situation that will certainly cause Canadian discount brokerages to sit up and take notice.

The implications of this survey point to a real upshot for consumers. Canadian investors will likely benefit from the fierce competition from the crowded market that is the Canadian discount brokerage landscape. In order to get new clients or keep their existing clients from jumping ship, expect discount brokerages to start offering more incentives and promotions (such as the deals listed here), lowered commissions & fees, new services and tools and educational seminars (which you can find listed here) to earn new business and capture the turnover of those “not-so-loyal” customers.