Trading giant Robinhood makes its UK debut in Revolut challenge
US fintech Robinhood, a commission-free trading startup valued at $7.6bn (£5.9bn), has today arrived in the UK.
The firm’s stock trading service is making its international debut, in a direct challenge to established British rivals Freetrade and Revolut.
Robinhood will today roll out the waiting list for its popular app to UK investors, with a formal launch penned for early next year.
Users will be able to invest in more than 3,500 US-denominated stocks, including Apple, Amazon and Tesla. They will also be able to access foreign stocks that are available to trade in dollars through depository receipts, such as Barclays and Burberry.
Accounts can be opened for free with investing to start at a minimum of £1, after which Robinhood will exchange users’ funds into dollars to begin trading with no execution fees.
Read more: Robinhood reveals plans to launch in the UK
“We chose the UK as the place for our first international office because the market has a lot of talent and it’s a great place for fintech, so it’s a great place for us to build our first office,” Robinhood’s UK boss Wanders Rutger told City PM
“We’ve talked to many customers and we see the opportunity here to bring real value to the market… [and] to bring a much more competitive product to existing investors.”
The startup, which has more than 6m users in the US, gained authorisation from the City watchdog to operate in the UK in August.
Its debut comes as Revolut attempts to trade places with Robinhood, targeting a US launch before the end of the year. The two share a number of investors, including DST Global and Ribbit Capital.
Read more: Revolut reveals Mastercard tie-up for US debit card launch
Rutgers said the firm will expand its offering in time to include UK stocks, but said nothing “specifically jumped out” from its roadmap for early launch.
Robinhood now has 10 people in its Shoreditch office, and is steadily hiring across marketing, operations and compliance.
Image credit: Robinhood