Revolut is taking on Robinhood with the launch of commission-free retail trading in US
Revolut, the UK’s most valuable fintech, is targeting the booming retail trading market with the launch of commission-free stock trading for US customers.
The $33bn fintech’s “Revolut Securities” arm has today been approved as a licensed broker-dealer in the the US, which will enable it to launch commission-free stock trading to its stateside customers in the next few months.
It comes after the fintech launched equivalent stock trading services in the UK in 2019, in a bid to differentiate itself from rival challenger banks Monzo and Starling Bank.
Revolut Securities customers will be able to invest commission-free in listed companies on Wall Street’s NYSE and NASDAQ, and in instruments such as Exchange Traded Funds.
No account minimum will be required for customers to invest through the new trading platform, and Revolut said it is planning to roll out fractional share trading in the future, which would give investors the chance to buy stakes in tech giants like Apple and Tesla for as little as $1.
It comes a year and a half after London-based fintech Revolut launched in the US at the dawn of the pandemic, where it has been rapidly rolling out new services including high interest savings, small business banking and cryptocurrency trading.
“We are building a single app where people can manage all aspects of their finances, from banking and foreign exchange, to cryptocurrency and stock trading”, said Nik Storonsky, Founder & CEO of Revolut.
“We’re eager to break down common barriers to entry around stock trading such as account minimums and complex interfaces,” he added.
It’s a clear move to capitalise on the current retail stock trading boom and take on the dominating online brokerage Robinhood, which IPO’d on Wall Street’s Nasdaq in July after surging in popularity during the pandemic amid a frenzy of trading in so-called meme stocks.
PayPal is also reportedly exploring ways to allow its US clients to trade individual stocks on its platform.
Revolut is also targeting the equally red-hot market of buy now pay later (BNPL) payments in the UK with a new feature that will rival that of incumbents ClearPay and Klarna.
Customers in the UK will soon be able to spread the cost of in-store and online purchases over a period of time via “simply a button which you switch on and then your card becomes a buy now pay later product,” Storonsky has previously said.