Best Investment Platforms for non UK Residents
This week we take a look at some of the best investment platforms for non UK residents.
Whether for savings, pensions or simply to grow your wealth, once you decide you’re going to start investing, the first thing you need to do is find an online platform that accepts people who live overseas.
Pick the right one and investing simplifies. No matter whether you want to invest in stocks, bonds, ETFs, currency, futures, options or dare I say it, cryptocurrency.
As a non resident you are going to want somewhere that offers share trading from wherever you happen to be. And the more user friendly and the higher the level of online support the better.
All our options provide this to varying degrees, but importantly each one offers something unique and has its own clear strengths and weaknesses.
We discuss this in a lot more detail below. But if you are short on time and want a quick micro-summary, here it is:
- Choose eToro if you want free share trading or are interested in cryptocurrency
- Choose Lightyear if you want low cost across the board and live in Europe
- Choose Saxo if you want the highest quality at a reasonable price
- Choose Freedom24 if you want free shares
- Choose HSBC if you have a local HSBC premier branch and £100K salary
It’s worth knowing you can try more than one of these simultaneously. In fact, apart from HSBC there’s nothing stopping you from opening accounts with all of these. Essentially, you can try and compare before you commit long term. (HSBC is a bit different because you need to be an HSBC Premier Bank Account holder – more on that below).
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Summary
| Broker | Logo | Main Pro | Main Con |
| eToro |  | Commission free stocks and ETFs | Some assets are expensive to trade |
| Lightyear |  | Low cost | Restricted to expats living in Europe |
| Saxo |  | Most professional with advanced features | Can be overwhelming in the beginning as so much choice |
| Freedom24 |  | Giving away free stocks right now | Less well known |
| HSBC |  | Local branches in many countries | Need salary of £100,000 or £50,000 min balance |
Why fees matter
You may have heard of a name or two that aren’t on the list. In all likelihood they haven’t made the cut due to fees.
For most people, most of the time fees really matter. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the most important thing to consider when making your choice is costs. You see there are all sorts of little charges here and there that can add up if you aren’t careful. It isn’t always easy to know what you actually paying.
When the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) looked into investment platform costs and charges they found 56% of consumers in their survey said they found it easy to find the total cost of investing on their platform. Judging by my experience, a lot of these 56% might think they find it easy to find the total cost, without actually really finding it.
If I had a pound for every time one of my friends waxed lyrical about what they were paying, only for me to correct them with what they were actually paying, I’d be a very wealthy man. I’m just saying…… Not to mention the remaining 44% who know they didn’t find it easy!
The fees you need to be really really concerned about are account charges and commissions. Account charges are ongoing repetitive fees for using a particular platform and commissions are what you have to pay whenever you buy or sell something.
In my experience commissions can range from free to about £25 per transaction. Similarly, account fees can be fixed or they can be a percentage of the value of your account.
Platforms with fixed fees tend to hover between £20 and £150 annually. Whilst percentage fee options usually charge from 0.12 to 0.45%.
Generally, you’re going to be better with a percentage fee for smaller account sizes and a fixed fee for larger ones, but here’s the thing. Except for HSBC, every single one of our options is at the low end for commissions and except for Freedom24, not one of them comes with account fees. Freedom24’s account fees aren’t high, though (more on this below).
Whilst Lightyear is the only one widely considered to be a truly low cost broker, non of them can be considered expensive. In fact, in many cases you can invest extremely cheaply with most of them.
A prime example, being our first option, eToro. Whilst they do have fees for some products the main ones (stocks & ETFs) can be bought and sold commission free (more on this below).
Investopedia have gone into a lot more depth on fees here if you are interested.
How to make your choice
If you live in the UK choosing where to invest can be a difficult task. Why? Because there are so many places to choose from. Fortunately or unfortunately for us, depending on which way you look at it, non residents don’t have quite as many choices. Mainly because most of the big UK options simply don’t accept non residents.
Even expats with British passports will struggle to find a UK platform open for their business. (But seeing as many of them still have account fees that are high I guess it isn’t all bad for us).
Luckily, and thanks in part to the fintech revolution, the non resident market has taken off in recent years. This means we have some excellent propositions to choose from.
We’ve outlined the key reason to choose one platform over and other, but if you still can’t decide, it usually makes sense to open multiple accounts with the ones you are interested in so that you can compare and contrast in real time.
Try trading the same shares on each platform to see how they measure up to one another. Which was the easiest transaction? How do the costs compare?
Ask a few support questions to see how their staff respond. Who was fastest? Who provided the better answer? At the end of the day, you should be looking to use a platform for years if not decades. A bit of messing around in the beginning is probably going to be worth its weight in gold for your financial future.
And just to be clear, though their non resident services may be separate, every single one of these platforms also operate in the UK. In turn, they are either regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or their US or European equivalents for their non UK operations (we’ve talked about this in a bit more detail later on).
eToro
As well as offering all the usual facilities you’d expect from a good quality stock broker, eToro provides something unique.
You see there’s a social aspect to this platform. In fact, I’m guessing it is this that has driven the platform’s popularity, but at the same time, its pretty clear that the platform itself has helped to drive the popularity of social trading as a phenomenon.
The key being eToro users can choose to make their share trading available for others to see and copy. You can copy others or let them copy you (if you want).
In theory this has great benefits for both parties. The most copied traders can make a great living from this and careful copiers can invest with people more skilled than themselves. (Like investing in a hedge fund without the high fees).
That said, if you (like me and the guys at S&P Global) aren’t convinced with active money management, eToro have (what I think) is an even better feature called CopyPortfolios.
There are three types of these to choose from:
Top Trader CopyPortfolios which comprise the best performing traders on eToro, according to a predefined strategy.
Market CopyPortfolios which bundle together a select combination of CFD stocks, commodities or ETFs, according to a predefined theme.
Partner CopyPortfolios which have been created by eToro’s partners – Tipranks, a stock analyst software company; WeSave, a French robo-advisor; and Meitav Dash, a multi-billion Dollar investment house.
There’s even a Warren Buffett CopyPortfolio that follows Buffett’s investments or a market cap weighted cryptocurrency option that gives you diversified exposure to the market without the high fees that alternatives are charging right now.
Of course you can completely ignore this aspect of the platform if you choose to and just use eToro like a standard stock broker and in fact, this could be where eToro really excels because of their fee structure.
Though eToro does charge small spreads and withdrawal fees, they don’t charge account or management fees. Not only this, but stocks and ETFs can be bought and sold commission free. This means you could put together a globally diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds via ETFs without having to pay commissions, account fees or platform management fees.
Other assets like cryptocurrencies and CFDs do have commissions attached, so it is worth familiarising yourself with all the fees before you trade.
The platform also provides a virtual mode, so you can try it out before you put any real money to work.
Residents of 76 countries can open an account with eToro.
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Don’t invest in Cryptoassets like Bitcoin unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more. For commission free stocks and ETFs your capital is at risk. Other fees may apply. For more information, visit etoro.com/trading/fees. eToro (Europe) Ltd., a Financial Services Company authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC) under the license # 109/10. eToro (UK) Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the license FRN 583263.
Lightyear
This includes financial promotion. We (British Expat Money) will be paid a referral fee if you open an account and deposit funds through some of the links on this page.
Thanks to a couple of former Wise employees backed by Richard Branson we now have a UK based (extremely) low cost investment platform open to anybody living in Europe.
And Lightyear is low-cost with a capital C.
Investing in ETFs is free of execution fees (other fees may apply). And whilst they do charge for individual shares, they don’t charge much. It’s £1 for UK shares, 0.1% for US shares ($0.1 min / $0.1 max) and €1 per order for EU shares.
There are three really compelling reasons to invest with Lightyear:
- It is seriously low cost
- It comes with a multi currency account
- And highly competitive interest rates on uninvested cash.
Fractional shares are also available with US shares. This means you can invest in companies you otherwise couldn’t. For example, the B shares of investing legend Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway cost $324 to buy (at the time of writing). Perhaps you either can’t or don’t want to invest so much.
No problem! You can open a Lightyear trading account at no cost and start investing in the US with a fractional share. In other words, you can buy a dollar’s worth!
Another massive bonus for non residents is the fact the minute you sign up, you’ll instantly get access to a multi-currency account.
This means, you can store and exchange pounds, dollars and euros whenever you want. Currency exchange does come with fees attached, but rest assured, like everything else at Lightyear, they are very low.
In fact, the platform only has five charges:
- US shares 0.1% ($0.1 min up to $1 max per order)
- UK shares £1 per order
- EU shares €1 per order
- Currency conversion 0.35% (Uses the live interbank exchange rate)
- Fast deposit transfer 0.5% (Depositing with card after free £500 lifetime allowance)
Lots of people who move overseas struggle to find decent savings accounts that can handle multi currency without getting charged and arm and a leg.
Well, if you live in Europe you now have another compelling reason to opt for the Lightyear trading platform.
When you store cash on Lightyear it automatically receives interest without holding your cash for a fixed period.
And the best news, you get decent interest rates too considering you didn’t do anything with your money.
- USD 2.0%
- GBP 3.0%
- EUR 3.0%
(These interest rates are true as of 03/10/2024)
Whilst, those interest rates are acceptable, Lightyear can give you much better rates if you you want to put your money to work in their High Interest Vaults products. These are essentially Money Market funds without the fees (on Euros and Pounds, there’s still a small 0.15% fee on dollars).
These are the current Vaults rates:
EUR 3.0%
- USD: 3.59%
- GBP: 5.11%
- EUR: 5.06%
Lightyear holds all the correct regulatory license/permissions in each and every country they do business in. They are authorised in Estonia to provide services across EU under passport permissions and are an appointed representative of RiskSave who is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
Saxo
Saxo is a very well respected Danish bank with a highly advanced global brokerage service.
It has been very popular with expatriates for a long time.
In terms of products, research, education, service and pretty much any other way of assessing an investment platform, Saxo usually ranks towards if not at the top.
In fact, so much so that we always used to say, Saxo is the best if you don’t mind high fees! But all that changed earlier this year when the platform announced large price reductions.
Dare I say, they now charge like a low cost broker! Here’s an example to show you what I mean.
Classic Tier (basic level) investors pay 0.08% for trading US and UK shares & ETFs. There’s a $1 min on US shares (£3 for the UK) so that means you’d pay the following:
| Size of trade (£ UK $ US) | UK | US |
| at or below £/$ 3000 | £3 | $1 |
| £/$5000 | £4 | $4 |
| £/$10000 | £8 | $8 |
Higher tiers cost less. Currency conversion fees have also been slashed and inactivity fees and minimum funding requirements have been totally zeroed ie you no longer need to pay for them.
As I touched on above, even though Saxo is one of the better investment platforms out there, it now competes head on with low cost brokers.
The negative with Saxo is that it’s such a totally encompassing platform that some investors feel overwhelmed when they first use it. And dare I say because they offer everything, it’s a bit like a sweet shop. You may be tempted to invest in things you don’t need if you aren’t careful!
But let’s be clear, if you invest with Saxo you’ll likely be rewarded with the most professional brokerage services of the ones we are talking about here and have access to the most products and exchanges. You’ll also get advanced charting, education and research features.
And another massive bonus for expats is the fact that it is available in almost every country on the planet. At the time of writing only people resident in the following countries CAN’T open an account (US, Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Syria or North Korea).
If you are serious about investing Saxo should be your first port of call.
Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs, FX or any of our other products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Losses can exceed deposits on some products.
HSBC Invest Direct
HSBC have a share dealing platform called InvestDirect International, which tends to be popular with expats from both Britain and Hong Kong, but the platform is available to many nationalities in the following countries.
| Argentina Armenia Austria Australia Belgium Bermuda Chile China Cyprus* Denmark Egypt | France Germany Greece Guernsey Hong Kong SAR Indonesia Isle of Man Jersey Kenya Lebanon Luxembourg | Macau SAR Malaysia Malta Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Oman Pakistan Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar | Singapore South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey UAE UK Uruguay Venezuela |
In other words, you should be covered.
Having said that, there are some eligibility criteria that not everyone will be able to fulfil. The most important one being you need to have an existing HSBC Expat Bank account. An HSBC Premier account to be exact.
Sounds simple enough, but this in itself could be an issue for some.
You need to fund your account with £50K or have a sole minimum salary of £100K.
If you can meet those requirements, HSBC don’t charge any annual management or inactivity fees.
Which is great, but there are other fees to watch. In fact, I don’t think its too much of a push to suggest they are the most expensive of the options we are considering here.
And as already touched on above, the most important one for most of us is the commissions on buying and selling shares. Here they are:
| Deal type | UK equities |
| Flat fee for deals placed online | GBP 14.95 |
| Flat fee for deals placed by phone | GBP 19.95 |
| Deal type | euro-denominated shares |
| Flat fee for deals placed online | EUR 21.95 |
| Flat fee for deals placed by phone | EUR 41.95 |
| Deal type | US shares |
| Flat fee for deals placed online | USD 24.95 |
| Flat fee for deals placed by phone | USD 29.95 for orders up to 1,000 shares USD 0.03 per share for orders above 1000 shares |
Though not totally unreasonable, those fees are definitely the most expensive of all the investment platforms we are looking at.
It is also worth noting that HSBC gets a very bad rap for its service.
In their defense, this may not be as big an issue for some as it is for others.
You see, if you take the time to read through what people are saying on sites like Trustpilot the negativity seems to focus upon their online service.
In other words, if you were lucky enough to live near a local HSBC Premier Branch you might just be able to negate that issue.
And I think this could be a deciding factor. That’s just to say, if you have a £100K salary and live near a branch then HSBC could be worth a look.
Yes, the fees are a touch higher than everyone else’s but it could be worth it to invest with a household name.
Freedom24
Freedom 24 is an interesting proposition right now as they are giving away free shares.
My guess is, you’ve never heard of them, so would you believe me if I told you it was another absolutely massive investment platform? It is actually part of a public listed company trading on the NASDAQ exchange in the US ie the one with all the big tech names like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook.
Freedom 24 concentrates on Stocks, Bonds, ETFs and Futures.
They have clear pricing with three plans. These have a monthly fee of €0, €10 or €200 per month and it is these that determine what other fees you pay.
- Commissions when buying and selling shares
- SMS notifications
- Funding your account by card (Funding by bank transfer is free)
As the last two items are optional, I think the ones we need to pay attention to are commissions.
But these are very competitive. They range from €0.008 (min order €1.2) to €0.02 (min order €2) depending on which plan you choose.
Another bonus for non residents is that they also have a savings account currently paying 3% interest on uninvested cash.
Freedom24 is available to residents in over 30 countries.
Anybody looking for a new share trading might want to give Freedom24 a try right now as they are giving away shares when you fund your account. And with a free demo account you don’t have to commit any real money until you are ready.
Disclaimer: Investments in securities and other financial instruments always involve the risk of loss of capital. Past performance does not guarantee future returns.
Safety and security
There are lots of things you can look at to determine whether or not your investment platform is safe, but as a minimum consider regulation and reputation.
In an ideal world, a UK resident would be looking for platforms that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and within the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). That’s the gold standard.
However, if you are living outside the UK, the services you are getting may not be covered by the FCA even though the company in question may operate in the UK. But three points on this.
First, the fact each one of these investment platforms have UK operations shows they meet the strict requirements of the FCA anyway. Second, each of their non resident services meets an equivalent standard (usually European) and finally, they are all massive companies.
In other words, if they weren’t a safe place to put your money you’d hear about it!
The bottom line
So there you have it. Five great options for you. All you have to do now is pick one. Here’s a quick summary:
- Choose eToro is you want to invest commission free
- Choose Lightyear if you want low cost across the board and live in Europe
- Choose Saxo if you want the highest quality at a reasonable price
- Choose Freedom24 if you want free shares
- Choose HSBC if you have a local HSBC premier branch and £100K salary (which you need to open an account)
Good luck investing!
