At Online Finance World, we have committed ourselves to providing a useful and factual website to our visitors, promoting only the best and most worthwhile financial services currently available to the general population. We have therefore spent a large amount of time and effort into developing an appropriate rating and review system which will satisfy the informational requirements to our visitors and reflect a realistic view of where each institution falls in terms of general popularity and attractiveness compared to others in the same field. We primarily base our ratings on as many relevant factors as we can gather information about for each financial institution we look at, but at the same time we are aware that in a "real world" situatation there is more to choosing the right option than just checking over statistics and relying purely on number-crunching algorithms..
Although statistical data can say much about an institution's history and may shed light on their future performance, before making final rating judgments we also look at numerous user opinions and reviews already publically published about each company, and decide whether to adjust any final ratings based on the general populace's outlook, especially with regards to each company's reputation and final overall rating.
As there are a huge number of online banks and brokers these days, we have taken our time to research and rate each one sufficiently enough until we are sure we can make conclusive statements and opinions about that company. We have steadily and carefully approached a small number of the best generally considered institutions so that we know we have covered all considerable aspects of the company before moving onto the next.
We have strived to develop a rating and review system which is on par with other similar websites in terms of accuracy and dependable, reliable information, however, we have, in some cases, also simplified the process without sacrificing resulting judgment quality by compressing some of the overly complex factors that recent comparative websites seem to feature into more compartmentalized and well summarized forms.
As a result, our rating and review process is fairly straightforward, but we believe it absolutely covers the most important aspects to consider when one is choosing which bank or broker to use as an average user in the complicated online world today.
For each financial institute we consider a variety of factors based on the type. Below are the overall categories that we focus on, with the specific types venturing into more complex analysis at each stage.
The importance percentage weight has been decided based on general team consensus on what the most commonly considered factors are when a user decides on starting an account with any institution. It is by no means a definitive and global scoring system, but it fits our criteria well.
| Category | Importance |
|---|---|
| Product or Offer Range | 15% |
| Ease of Use / General Experience | 10% |
| User Tools & Trading Technology | 15% |
| Portfolio Management and Assistance | 5% |
| Customer Service and Technical Support | 10% |
| Training / Education Support | 5% |
| Security Reputation and Safety History | 10% |
| Costs and Fees - Hidden & Open | 15% |
| General Reputation and Opinions | 15% |
These factors are discussed and reviewed on a regular basis and we try to keep current trends and fashions in mind. Our final deciding 'algorithm' is constantly being developed and updated. We are proud of our system, and we are committed to making sure it is as effective and reliable as possible now and in the foreseeable future.
Our review and ratings team consists of several hand-picked and headhunted trading enthusiasts who have many years of trading experience behind them already, stretching back to way before online trading platforms became so popular recently. They have been chosen for their eagerness to learn and use the latest platforms and technologies available to the modern trader, and their ability to provide a real user-level report on their time on each platform.
As there are many platforms, in fact too many for one person to experience entirely, our reviewers all stick to the rating and review system we have provided, and report back to us on each platform in the best way they can, with real end-user opinions.
Our bank and broker data is based on all the information and statistics available at the time we perform our research or conduct any of our reviews. Financial institutions make adjustments, improvements, cancellations of services or promotions, and pricing changes continually, so the data we have in our reviews and ratings may sometimes change. We therefore make sure we periodically return to each of our featured institutions and re-check all available information, after which we update our reviews and ratings accordingly.
We also welcome and act on all and any comments, suggestions, or corrections from our website users.
We believe our current review and rating system, albeit in early days of structure, already proves to show an accurate real-world opinion on each financial institution we research.
As we are aiming to be the most comprehensive and reputable ratings site throughout the course of this year, we will be constantly striving to improve our information base and data gathering, as well as working hard to cover as much new and accurate research on each financialy institution we have or will have on the website.