Luxury Institute's online poll of rich individuals points to online broker. TD Waterhouse, which earlier this year merged with Ameritrade, has been named the top stock-brokerage brand among high-net-worth customers, according to the Luxury Institute.

Smith Barney has risen significantly in the rankings over the past year to take a close second place. Charles Schwab and Fidelity Brokerage Services -- the top brand in the Luxury Institute's brokerage survey last year -- tied for third spot.

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Individual brand scores indicate that wealthy consumers attribute different strengths to different brands, says the New York-based Luxury Institute. Fidelity is the top rated brokerage in "delivering consistently superior quality." Charles Schwab is rated highest as "unique and exclusive."

Oppenheimer and Smith Barney share the highest ratings on being used by people who are "admired and respected," Deutsche Bank is rated highest in "making customers feel special across the full customer experience." Deutsche is also rated most "worthy of a significant price premium." Fidelity is rated the brokerage firm that people who are familiar with the brand are "most willing to recommend to people they care about most."

"This is a world of divergence, not convergence," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza. "So there will be room for many types of wealth managers in many niches that we cannot foresee today."

The Luxury Institute says its findings were based on an "nationally representative" Internet-based survey sample of 1,000 wealthy consumers with an average household net worth of $3 million. -FWR

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