Trading212 - why do they cater for ex-pats where nearly every other UK broker will not?

xylophone

Trying to find a broker for an ex-pat investor 

I wonder had you seen this discussion?
https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=19478
Interactive Brokers? Redmayne Bentley? HSBC?

EdGasketTheSecond

VXman said:

If the expats money is in UK banks then there is nothing to stop them trading in any UK based company..

Funnily enough I have just returned from working in Hong Kong for 3 years. I just transferred my spare HKD to my UK bank whenever rates were good and then traded  in UK companies from my UK bank account.....or do  they not have a UK address? Doe one need one? If that is an issue could they not 'borrow' one?

NO, it is just not possible to open a broker account with any mainstream UK broker. As soon as you say you are not resident in the UK, they won't allow your application. Although there is no legal restriction, there is a practical restriction because every broker I have come across apart from Trading212, will not entertain a non-UK resident.

EdGasketTheSecond

Voyager2002 said:

bowlhead99 said:

They subsidise the cheap trading and nominee service by making money from large volumes of CFD customers, for whom "76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider." While they can hedge out the CFD holders' positions they make profit on the unhedged ones where clients lose, and still have some exposure on their own balance sheet, especially when offering guaranteed stops etc. But there is money in CFD trading and increasing their potential customer base by welcoming overseas investors is one way to increase profits - the more the merrier.

That seems to suggest that those of us who are not interested in CFD trading should seriously consider investing with T212 in order to benefit from a subsidised service.

I'm not sure anyone should 'seriously' consider investing in Trading212. Here's a gem from their website In answer to 'How to get a share certificate':

"You can request a certificate of your shares, at any time you like by dropping us an email on info@trading212.com and we’ll gladly provide you with a confirmation of holding your investments. "

Now what Trading212 are trying to suggest is that a printed statement of your holdings is a share certificate; and anyone knowledgeable would know that to be highly misleading to say the least.

bowlhead99

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Voyager2002 said:

bowlhead99 said:

They subsidise the cheap trading and nominee service by making money from large volumes of CFD customers, for whom "76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider." While they can hedge out the CFD holders' positions they make profit on the unhedged ones where clients lose, and still have some exposure on their own balance sheet, especially when offering guaranteed stops etc. But there is money in CFD trading and increasing their potential customer base by welcoming overseas investors is one way to increase profits - the more the merrier.

That seems to suggest that those of us who are not interested in CFD trading should seriously consider investing with T212 in order to benefit from a subsidised service.

I'm not sure anyone should 'seriously' consider investing in Trading212. Here's a gem from their website In answer to 'How to get a share certificate':

"You can request a certificate of your shares, at any time you like by dropping us an email on info@trading212.com and we’ll gladly provide you with a confirmation of holding your investments. "

Now what Trading212 are trying to suggest is that a printed statement of your holdings is a share certificate; and anyone knowledgeable would know that to be highly misleading to say the least.

If you want them to certify the details of what shares they are holding for you beneficially as nominee - you want a printed version or a pdf, they can create one for you. They can't give you a share certificate printed by the underlying investee company with your name on it, because you don't hold title to the shares yourself.

Likewise if you held shares through Youinvest or IWeb, it's AJBell or Halifax Sharedealing's nominee company who has legal title to the shares and you are merely listed in their internal register of beneficial owners; your 'certificate of ownership' is essentially simply an account statement of what they are holding for you, unless you transfer the shares away as stock with yourself rather than another broker as the recipient.

With T212 the facts that they are offering exposure to fractional shares (rather than simply whole ones, which are capable of separate registration by the investee company's registrar) and that they offer thousands of shares on a number of foreign stock exchanges - some of which may only support dematerialised share interests rather than paper share certificates - would generally be expected to conspire to make it difficult to withdraw your beneficial holding through reregistration into a certificate in your own name.

EdGasketTheSecond

OK but Youinvest or IWeb would tell you that to get a share certificate (a proper one), you would need to remove your holding from the nominee and they would send you a share certificate for that share that you requested for a charge. Come on bowlhead99 you know what a share certificate is and what Trading212 are offering is not a share certificate though they word it cleverly so that a potential non-experienced investor might think 'OK, well I can always get my share certificate if I want one'.

VXman

EdGasketTheSecond said:

VXman said:

If the expats money is in UK banks then there is nothing to stop them trading in any UK based company..

Funnily enough I have just returned from working in Hong Kong for 3 years. I just transferred my spare HKD to my UK bank whenever rates were good and then traded  in UK companies from my UK bank account.....or do  they not have a UK address? Doe one need one? If that is an issue could they not 'borrow' one?

NO, it is just not possible to open a broker account with any mainstream UK broker. As soon as you say you are not resident in the UK, they won't allow your application. Although there is no legal restriction, there is a practical restriction because every broker I have come across apart from Trading212, will not entertain a non-UK resident.

My point was that if you have access to a UK address it is easy enough. I had accounts with H & L, Wealthify and Vanguard and funded them through my UK bank while living in HK.

VXman

dfchk said:

No tax on capital gains or dividends in Hong Kong. Would it not be more beneficial to invest in HK?
Andrew Hallam's book Millionaire Expat is a good starting point to maximise investments while in HK.

Just be careful not to upset the authorities in any way. Lots of assets being frozen in Hong Kong at the moment. I know quite 'normal' people who are moving money out of Hong Kong to safer places at the moment. Things are changing quite quickly over there.

EdGasketTheSecond

VXman said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

VXman said:

If the expats money is in UK banks then there is nothing to stop them trading in any UK based company..

Funnily enough I have just returned from working in Hong Kong for 3 years. I just transferred my spare HKD to my UK bank whenever rates were good and then traded  in UK companies from my UK bank account.....or do  they not have a UK address? Doe one need one? If that is an issue could they not 'borrow' one?

NO, it is just not possible to open a broker account with any mainstream UK broker. As soon as you say you are not resident in the UK, they won't allow your application. Although there is no legal restriction, there is a practical restriction because every broker I have come across apart from Trading212, will not entertain a non-UK resident.

My point was that if you have access to a UK address it is easy enough. I had accounts with H & L, Wealthify and Vanguard and funded them through my UK bank while living in HK.

No, you didn't read my reply. Just having a UK address is meaningless, you HAVE to be UK resident to open an account and that includes HL.