online discount broker for UK, EU, and US exchanges?

MrBean_2

Hi everybody,
I'm a small investor and I'm looking for a discount broker with the
following characteristics:

- allows to buy stocks and ETF's on the US, UK, and other European
exchanges.
I will be doing low volume, no more than 10 transactions / month.
- allows to keep cash in Euros, with good interest rates
- has low fees
- (optional) has mutual funds
- allows to regular contributions into ETF's or mutual funds for
dollar cost averaging

Any suggestion?
I've looked at Interactive Brokers which has very low fees, but I don't
like the following features:
- they give no interest on cash up to EUR 8,000
- it's quite technical compared to, say, Charles Schwab
- doesn't have mutual funds
E-trade is good but only has UK and US.

Thank you.

Chrismaths

You are unlikely to find a discount broker with those characteristics, as setting up the systems to do trading and custody overseas is quite expensive, and the demand for such services is not that large - so discount brokers who rely on volume are unlikely to offer it. You're going to have either set up multiple accounts with brokers who have the different features you need, or go to a non-discount broker.

MrBean_2

Chrismaths wrote:

You are unlikely to find a discount broker with those characteristics, as setting up the systems to do trading and custody overseas is quite expensive, and the demand for such services is not that large - so discount brokers who rely on volume are unlikely to offer it. You're going to have either set up multiple accounts with brokers who have the different features you need, or go to a non-discount broker.

Thanks. Perhaps the expression "discount broker" is not completely accurate. What I'm looking for is something like Interactive Brokers (which gives access to many exchange markets) but with higher interests on cash and preferably less technically oriented, or something like E-trade but with access also to other EU exchanges. I already have an account with Schwab for the US market, but I want also something in Euros to avoid the currency risk.

One such broker appears to be Fortuneo.fr, but unfortunately the website is entirely in French.

gt94sss2

MrBean wrote:

Hi everybody,
I'm a small investor and I'm looking for a discount broker with the
following characteristics:

- allows to buy stocks and ETF's on the US, UK, and other European
exchanges.
I will be doing low volume, no more than 10 transactions / month.
- allows to keep cash in Euros, with good interest rates
- has low fees
- (optional) has mutual funds
- allows to regular contributions into ETF's or mutual funds for
dollar cost averaging

Any suggestion?

As Chrismaths says, you're unlikely to find a single discount broker who offers everything you need.

However, have a look at the two brokers I use:

a) Selftrade - who i think do everything you want apart from keeping cash in Euro's. In addition, if you buy ishares (a type of ETF), within their ISA than purchases are commission free. In addition, if you are referred by an existing customer, you will get at least £50 for joining them

b) HSBC InvestDirect Plus who offer Euro and USD currency accounts, as part of their service (if holding USD/Euro's in cash is important to you)

Regards
Sunil

MrBean_2

gt94sss2 wrote:

As Chrismaths says, you're unlikely to find a single discount broker who offers everything you need.

However, have a look at the two brokers I use:

a) Selftrade - who i think do everything you want apart from keeping cash in Euro's. In addition, if you buy ishares (a type of ETF), within their ISA than purchases are commission free. In addition, if you are referred by an existing customer, you will get at least £50 for joining them

b) HSBC InvestDirect Plus who offer Euro and USD currency accounts, as part of their service (if holding USD/Euro's in cash is important to you)

Regards
Sunil

Thanks for the suggestions. Selftrade looks good, but they require one to have a UK bank account. I'm currently overseas and don't have one.

Arn5

Have a look at keytrade.be or keytrade.lu
stay away from Internaxx.lu as they are more expensive.

Arn

MrBean_2

Arn5 wrote:

Have a look at keytrade.be or keytrade.lu
stay away from Internaxx.lu as they are more expensive.

Arn

Thanks. I see they have tariffs quite similar to those of fortuneo.fr
(EUR 14.95 for orders below EUR 5,000 on euronext). Not bad but still far from Interactive Brokers (0.1%, min 4 EUR, max 29 EUR on any european market), even with the 10 EUR monthly fee IB charges for low activity...