This month, we are proud to present our annual e­-Monitor Awards, detailing the best features of online brokerage offerings and functionalities across six key areas: Core Product Offerings, Account Information & Performance Reporting, Equity Research & Quotes, Planning Tools, Alerts and Mobile Capabilities. Each category includes a distinct set of attributes and criteria that we use to grade and rank firms. Based on this review, conducted using our proprietary audit software and industry experience, we award gold, silver or bronze medals to those firms that excel. In this slide deck, we highlight the gold medal winners across all categories.

1. e-Monitor
2017 Gold Medal Winners

2. Corporate Insight provides competitive intelligence, consulting and user experience research to the nation's leading
financial, health and education institutions. For more than two decades, the firm has tracked technological
developments in the end-user online experience, identifying best practices in online financial services and investing,
mobile finance, social media and other emerging areas. Corporate Insight offers subscription-based Monitor services
in 15 verticals, including banking, healthcare and alumni relations, along with custom research, digital capabilities
audits, special studies, user research and other consulting services. The firm helps its clients—including 70% of the
financial services firms in the Fortune 500—to remain at the forefront of industry trends and improve their
competitive position.
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3. This month, we are proud to present our annual e-Monitor Awards, detailing the best features of online brokerage
offerings and functionalities across six key areas: Core Product Offerings, Account Information & Performance
Reporting, Equity Research & Quotes, Planning Tools, Alerts and Mobile Capabilities. Each category includes a
distinct set of attributes and criteria that we use to grade and rank firms. Based on this review, conducted using our
proprietary audit software and industry experience, we award gold, silver or bronze medals to those firms that excel.
The gold medal is awarded to those brokerages that offer products, tools or website features that are innovative and
extensive, meeting or exceeding all of the criteria we have established in a given category. The silver medal
recognizes website offerings that provide strong value but suffer from a few small flaws while the bronze medal goes
to those features that are imperfect yet maintain a distinct value or unique capability. In this slide deck, we highlight
the gold medal winners across all categories.
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4. Category Overview
Promote Your Firm’s 2017 Monitor Awards!
Corporate Insight is happy to assist all award-winning firms in promoting their honors. For more information,
contact us at pr@corporateinsight.com.
Core Product Offerings
Account Information &
Performance
Reporting
Equity Research & Quotes
Planning Tools
Alerts
Mobile Experience

5. Medal Chart
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Firm Medal Count
Charles Schwab
E*TRADE
Fidelity
Merrill Edge
Merrill Lynch WM
Morgan Stanley
TD Ameritrade
Vanguard

6. We focus on the four fundamental tradeable products—stocks, options, bonds and mutual funds—and the
functionality of firms’ platforms as well as the range of account types they offer. First, we analyze the functionality
and features of the trading platforms and then consider unique features and tools. We also evaluate the range of
managed account types offered, noting the main benefits as well as the fees and minimums. Ranking criteria include
trade ticket functionality and design, unique trading features and offerings, range of managed accounts offered and
account fees, minimums and features.
Core Product Offerings
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Fidelity continues to outperform in the core product
category, earning a gold medal for its comprehensive
standard and floating trade tickets. The firm also offers
five managed account options.
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7. Here, we analyze the availability and depth of account balance figures, positions, transaction details and account
history. We evaluate firms based on the freshness of their information, the level of detail they offer, the flexibility they
provide to customers in terms of customizing the display of this content and the overall usability of these features.
We also consider account aggregation offerings as several leading brokerage firms have added this functionality in
recent years. These services allow clients to gain a more holistic view of their financial picture in a single location as
well as observe changes in their overall portfolios.
Account Information & Performance Reporting
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Fidelity retains its gold medal this year by continuing
to provide a wealth of data on clients’ financials,
including external assets.
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8. In this category, we examine equity research reports and ratings, stock screeners and stock quotes offered by
brokerages in the coverage set. We consider the research content types, sources and providers and their overall
findability. We also consider the usability, criteria flexibility, results and follow-up actions of stock screeners. We look
at quote details and accessibility for both streaming and detailed quotes, noting floating quote bars or any ubiquitous
tools on the private site. Strong research offerings and quote details allow investors to delve deeper into the decision
to buy or sell shares of a given company.
Equity Research & Quotes
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Merrill Edge earns the top spot in this category, mainly
due to its new Stock Stories feature, which organizes
stock research into four different categories, providing a
guided experience for investors to view stock profile
information and learn about the impact it may have on
their strategies.
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9. In this category, we assess the full scope of investment and financial planning tools, asset and portfolio analyzers
and financial calculators offered by firms in our coverage group. Primarily, we consider the availability and findability
of tools, the range of topics covered and the ability to import account information. We also analyze the usefulness
and detail of the results. Ranking criteria include availability and findability of planning tools, integration of account
information, depth of criteria and results, and range of financial calculators offered.
Planning Tools
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Fidelity continues to dominate this category, winning the
gold medal for its comprehensive Planning & Guidance
Center and highly useful portfolio analysis tools. It also
introduced two new financial calculators to its platform
this year.
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10. We introduce alerts as a standalone category this year because investors increasingly rely on receiving information
in real time. This category focuses solely on news, research and security price alerts. We first look at the types of
alerts offered by each firm and then focus on their findability, customizability and deliverability. We also consider the
alerts’ email design.
Alerts
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Charles Schwab wins gold in this category by providing
a wide range of alert types and allowing clients to set a
significant number of alerts. The firm also stands out for
its intuitive alerts center and detailed security price alert
history as well as its email and text alerts.
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11. In this category, we examine the entire mobile brokerage experience, including overall design and navigation as well
as account information, cash management features, help content, trading capabilities and research offerings. With
the increasing popularity of mobile platforms, firms steadily introduce new functionalities and features as they work
to give clients a seamless experience between the web and mobile sites. We focus solely on Apple iOS systems for
this category.
Mobile Experience
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E*TRADE places first by continuing to offer exemplary
account information, research and trading capabilities.
The firm improved its cash management offerings this
year, adding the option to deposit checks via image
capture.
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Analyst
e-Monitor and Broker Monitor
646-876-7526
jshroyer@corporateinsight.com
Jackie Shroyer
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