BMO<\/a> said the move would lower the cost of self-directed investing without compromising access to the tools, research and supports it offers, including AI-generated news and market summaries that investors can read.<\/p>\nWhile seasoned investors may not have felt that fees and commissions were necessarily an impediment, younger clients have often viewed them as a barrier, said Silvio Stroescu, president and CEO of BMO InvestorLine, in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially younger investors, they see pricing as a friction \u2014 whether it\u2019s pricing in terms of the commission they pay for their trades, for the transactions, whether it is pricing for certain fees or having a minimum balance, for example,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pricing friction comes in a form of, \u2018I love your platform, I love your tools, but I\u2019m still paying a lot for a commission and based on the size of my portfolio, that adds a drag to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Upstart rival Wealthsimple already offers commission-free trading on stocks, ETFs and equity options. The same goes for Questrade and U.S. online trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc., which officially expanded into the Canadian market with the closing of its acquisition of cryptocurrency firm WonderFi in June.<\/p>\n
It comes as no surprise that a big bank like BMO would seek to compete in this space given the success of those firms, said Claire C\u00e9l\u00e9rier, Canada Research Chair in household finance at the University of Toronto\u2019s Rotman School of Management.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a period where we see more and more financial institutions participating in this trend, where retail investors are increasingly participating in markets that are relatively hot,\u201d C\u00e9l\u00e9rier said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Stroescu said BMO\u2019s advantage over its competitors comes in the \u201cbreadth\u201d of its digital tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re an active trader, you have active trader capabilities that are specific to you as a more sophisticated trader,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re starting off new, you have education embedded in the workflow to help you along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
But C\u00e9l\u00e9rier cautioned that increased access can also come with added risk, as \u201cunsophisticated investors\u201d \u2014 often younger in demographic and less financially experienced \u2014 are more prone to losing money when trading more actively.<\/p>\n
C\u00e9l\u00e9rier said investors may notice differences with BMO\u2019s version of the model, as big banks tend to be \u201cmore careful about investor welfare,\u201d resulting in a more conservative set of products they offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Wealthsimple and Robinhood and so on are doing is they\u2019re increasingly selling products where investors are taking some leverage, or option products or even prediction market products,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are products that are leading retail investors to take a lot of risk. Most of the time, they lose money on these products and in fact, the platforms are making money on these products.\u201d<\/p>\n
C\u00e9l\u00e9rier said other large banks may follow suit on the zero-fee trading trend if the market stays hot in the coming years. Some, however, may decide to stay away in order to \u201cprotect\u201d their clients.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure they will all follow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClients may benefit more from other services than just a total cancellation of trading fees because if it leads them to trade more, they make more mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n
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