{"id":202981,"date":"2026-09-10T02:26:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/202981\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T02:26:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:26:54","slug":"bank-of-montreal-becomes-first-big-five-bank-to-eliminate-most-online-trading-commissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/202981\/","title":{"rendered":"Bank of Montreal becomes first Big Five bank to eliminate most online trading commissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

InvestorLine is launching unlimited commission-free trading on all stocks, ETFs and options.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Bank of Montreal BMO-T<\/a> is eliminating commission fees on stocks, exchange-traded funds and options on its direct investing platform in a bid to attract younger customers as competition mounts in online trading.<\/p>\n

The bank said BMO InvestorLine will be the first direct investing brokerage owned by one of Canada\u2019s five largest lenders to implement zero-commission trading on stock and ETF trades. Digital competitors have been growing alongside interest in no-fee trading products, and BMO is looking to attract younger clients, who are demanding lower costs. <\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone opening their first account with us as of this month now pays nothing to trade, nothing to hold the account, and nothing to leave if they\u2019re not happy with the service,\u201d BMO InvestorLine chief executive officer Silvio Stroescu said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also increases the level of accountability for us to ensure that the capabilities that we build are not just something that we talk about, but they are truly adding value to our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

InvestorLine is launching unlimited commission-free trading on all stocks, ETFs and options. It is also eliminating all brokerage account administration fees and reducing options contract fees. <\/p>\n

InvestorLine clients will automatically receive the new pricing when the changes take effect on Sept. 14. <\/p>\n

Growth in the business has been driven by younger clients \u2013 a demographic that heavily factors the cost of trading when choosing a platform. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve come to us for the tools and the intelligence and the empowerment that we provide, but we could also drive even more by removing this pricing friction,\u201d Mr. Stroescu said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven for the more active traders, removing this pricing friction is still a positive for them. I think it will resonate even more with the younger investors, but it will land as a positive for everybody.\u201d <\/p>\n

No-fee discount brokerages, including Wealthsimple Financial Corp. and Questrade Financial Group Inc., have seen their assets under administration jump as Canadian investors seek out more cost-effective options to earn more on their savings. Wealthsimple has also waded into banking by providing services, including chequing accounts. <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s sixth largest lender, National Bank of Canada, already offers zero-commission trading through its direct brokerage. <\/p>\n

Mr. Stroescu \u2013 who previously worked at digital bank Tangerine Bank, formerly known as ING Direct Canada \u2013 said challenger banks tend to build strategies based on pricing incentives. However, he said, what keeps clients in the long run is the opportunity to access a broader set of capabilities and services at a financial institution. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe competition\u2019s always been there,\u201d Mr. Stroescu said. \u201cTypically, the attacker mechanisms are always led by price and incentives to garner attention. Our strength is the fact that we also can do that and have the ability to also broaden the relationship with the deeper capabilities we have.\u201d <\/p>\n

BMO InvestorLine is a critical component of the bank\u2019s strategy to grow its wealth management division as it focuses on improving profitability across the bank. <\/p>\n

At InvestorLine, the bank\u2019s fastest growing segment is clients under the age of 35, BMO group head of wealth management Deland Kamanga said during an investor day in March<\/a>. He said it\u2019s a \u201cpowerful front door\u201d for clients to join BMO\u2019s wealth management unit. <\/p>\n

With increased competition among digital trading platforms, Mr. Kamanga said the bank has been investing heavily in improving its InvestorLine mobile platform and growing its client base by referring customers from its personal banking unit. <\/p>\n

Recently, BMO has bolstered InvestorLine with new tools for active traders and long-term investors, including advanced options screeners, enhanced educational resources and real-time market data and research. <\/p>\n

It also launched paper-trading capabilities, which allow clients to use a practice account to learn how the bank\u2019s active trader platform works without making risky bets with their money. <\/p>\n

Total assets under administration grew at a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent from 2020 to 2025, according to the investor presentation. In the third quarter, BMO InvestorLine accounted for 9 per cent of revenue in wealth management. <\/p>\n

\u201cInvestorLine is really set up as the bridge between those that start off with retail and progress over to broader wealth management services,\u201d Mr. Stroescu said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also see clients progress and open accounts with our private banking offering and private wealth, and also engage with the more traditional advisers as their needs become more complex.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: InvestorLine is launching unlimited commission-free trading on all stocks, ETFs and options.Spencer Colby\/The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,50,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":["post-202981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-montreal","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}