Good International Share Dealing Platform?

Gobosly

Hi there. I currently hold a reasonable portfolio of UK equities in standard nominee accounts and S&S ISA nominee accounts. These are currently held with Barclay's stockbrokers Limited (BSL) which I have been with for around 7 years.

I hold a majority of UK shares, but am looking to diversify more internationally as I add more international equities to hedge against currency fluctuations. I am primarily looking at Europe, Switzerland, Nordic, Canadian and Australian, but possibly Far East and Amercian also. Note that I am not interested in funds which specialise in overseas equities as I like to pick stocks myself. BSL have an international platform but aspects of it look costly. TD waterhouse looks an option but my concerns are:

- High currency exchange margins (1.5% in the case of BSL).
- Recurring quarterly or yearly charges.
- Poor performance in terms of buying price.
- In general I would rather pay higher dealing costs and avoid the problems above.

Any experience of others would be very welcome prior to my jumping in. Many thanks in advance.

grey_gym_sock

apparently you can avoid TD's FX margins by exchanging separately and then transferring the foreign currency into your TD account.

interactive brokers or saxo bank have more competitive FX rates. (note that 1 of saxo's brand names, "modern wealth management", is apparently closing down.)

more info here: http://the-international-investor.com/international-stock-broker-list/uk-stock-broker-list