e-Monitor2016 Gold Medal Winners

Corporate Insight provides competitive intelligence, consulting and user experience research to the nation'sleading financial, health and education institutions. For more than two decades, the firm has tracked technologicaldevelopments in the end-user online experience, identifying best practices in online financial services andinvesting, mobile finance, social media and other emerging areas. Corporate Insight offers subscription-basedMonitor services in 14 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 andimprove their competitive position.

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This month, we are proud to present our annual e-Monitor Awards, detailing the best features in six areas of onlinebrokerage offerings and functionalities.

In our analysis, we reviewed the offerings and capabilities for the 19 firms in the e-Monitor coverage group, dividedinto six distinct categories: Account Information, Quotes, Trading, Online Help, Prospect Experience and MobileCapabilities. Each category includes a distinct set of attributes and criteria that we used to grade and rank firms.Based on this review, conducted using our proprietary audit software and industry experience, we awarded gold,silver or bronze medals to those firms that go above and beyond.

To review, a Gold Medal is awarded to those firms that offer products, tools or website features that are innovativeand extensive, meeting or exceeding all of the criteria we have established in each category. Website offerings thatprovide strong value but suffer from a few small flaws earn a Silver Medal, while offerings that are imperfect yetmaintain a distinct value or unique capability earn a Bronze Medal.

E-Monitor Awards

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Category Overview

Account Information

Quotes

Trading

Promote Your Firm’s 2016 Monitor Awards!Corporate Insight is happy to assist all award-winning firms in promoting their honors. For more

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Online Help

Prospect Experience

Mobile Experience

Medal Chart

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In the Account Information category, we analyze the availability and depth of account balance figures, positions,transaction details, account alerts and account history. We evaluate firms based on the freshness of theirinformation, the level of detail offered, the flexibility provided to customers in terms of customizing the display ofthis content and the overall usability of these features. Additionally, we consider account aggregation offerings,additional account performance metrics and online documentation (i.e., type of brokerage documents availableonline, depth of document archives and e-Delivery capabilities).

Account Information

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Fidelity retained its gold medal this year by continuing toprovide a wealth of data on clients’ financials, including externalassets, which are now available in the main Portfolio section.

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The Quotes category examines the level of detail, functionality and related tools firms offer clients in the productprofile pages. We look at accessibility to both streaming and detailed quotes, noting floating quote bars or anyubiquitous tools throughout the private site. We also take into consideration charts and advanced chartingfeatures firms may offer in these sections. Though we examine quote pages for all of the major product types, weprimarily focus on stock quote pages. Our analysis includes the integration of external features, such as links totrade, access watch lists or set alerts, relevant account information provided and the pages’ overall design andlayout.

Quotes

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Fidelity earns a gold medal in this category for its in-depthquote pages, which feature a dashboard-like design andprovide a wealth of useful data for clients to investigatehighlighted securities. Fidelity also stands out for its advancedcharting features that are embedded in the quote pages.

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This year, we brought back the Trading category to examine the trading capabilities and trade tickets offered by thefirms in our coverage group. In our analysis, we focused on the trade tickets for four main product types—stocks/ETFs, options, mutual funds and fixed income products—though we emphasized the stock offerings. Sincemost of the firms offer a similar array of trade options, much of the distinction between firms came from thefunctionality, accessibility and usability of the trade tickets provided. In our review, we assessed firms on the level ofcustomization provided, such as the ability to change reinvestment and cost basis methods, as well as anyadditional tools or unique features incorporated into the ticket’s interface.

Trading

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Merrill Edge stands at the top of this category for offering a strong assortment oftrading capabilities, an anchored TradeBar that allows clients to preload stocktrades throughout the private site and intuitively designed trade tickets thatincorporate an array of useful customization features.

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Online help resources are a vital brokerage site component, helping users navigate, answer questions and locatespecific information quickly, thus enhancing the overall user experience. This category examines the online helpresources with a focus on private site offerings. As in past years, we examine online help centers and contextualhelp content within specific sections. In response to the results of our 2016 Investor Survey, this year we placedgreater emphasis on the ways in which clients can interact with the firm, specifically through an online chat tool ormessage center, which were rated as “important” or “very important” components of a brokerage site by over 50%of survey respondents. We also incorporated site search tools in our analysis.

Online Help

9

With the shift in our weightings and criteria focus, no firm rose to the level ofa gold medal in this category.

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For retail brokerage firms, a good prospective client experience on the internet is a must. In this category, weevaluate the public facing features firms use to promote their offerings online and convert prospects into clients;this is the sole e-Monitor Awards category to focus exclusively on the public site. We review a range of keyprospective client-facing components, including public homepages, account application usability, as well ascommentary, news and educational resources. We also review additional features like branch locator tools, sitesearch functionalities and account selection assistance.

Prospect Experience

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Fidelity earns the gold medal due to its exceptional product andservice information, extensive educational and researchmaterials and account selection assistance.

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In this category, we take into account the full range of functionality available from today's leading mobile investingplatforms, including account information, security, cash management, help resources, trade and research. Overalldesign and navigation also play a major role in this year’s rankings. Firms have steadily added more features totheir mobile platforms, making effective design and navigation increasingly important to avoid cluttered andinefficient platforms.

Mobile Capabilities

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Merrill Edge/Lynch earned the gold medal this year for its recently launched appthat provides extensive account information, contextual help, excellent researchcapabilities and exemplary design and navigation.

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Analyst

e-Monitor and Broker Monitor

646-454-2662

estahler@corporateinsight.com

Eric Stahler

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