Trading outside CREST

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2nd Nov '17 by ratinahat001

12 comments 2427 reads

I'm trying to build up a decent portfolio of stocks selected using a Stockranks screen, and wish to include a decent amount of European shares. My broker (YouInvest) struggles with anything foreign - so most European stocks I end up having to place a (costly) telephone trade.

However, for a lot of the European stocks I'm interested in, YouInvest can't place trades for me as they are outside CREST. Does anyone here have experience of placing trades on non-CREST stocks, and able to recommend a broker to buy through?

Thanks!

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Ratinahat001

Premium Member

12 comments

Rusty2

2nd Nov '17

I had a look into this as I have number of European shares. Euro shares can not be held directly in Crest: http://crestaccounts.co.uk/crest-personal-member-accounts-explained/can-foreign-stocks-be-held-in-crest

I use HL, there are quite a few that I can't buy either or can only do via telephone dealing.

What shares are you trying to buy, I can check if they are available with HL.

abtan

2nd Nov '17

HL do indeed allow trading for quite a few European shares (a better selection that iweb)

In cases where HL only allow (costly) telephone dealing, I simply contact them (through their online form) and ask them to allow online trading.

I'd say 50% of the time they oblige me and within a week I'm able to trade online.

I know what you mean though; I'd like to trade certain shares listed on more "obscure" exchanges, eg Warsaw. If anyone knows a way to do this, preferably through an ISA, it would be great to hear.

A

ISAallowance

2nd Nov '17

With IG I can buy Euro small caps that I can't with Youinvest, but only from a limited range of markets - Germany, Holland, Belgium, Austria & Ireland. Very reasonable 0.1% forex fee and E10 dealing fee.

For my SIPP with Youinvest, I'll probably just go for a Euro smaller companies fund or Trust for Euro small cap exposure, as you say it's either expensive or impossible to buy smaller Euro companies directly through them.

Brigra

2nd Nov '17

I've been using De Giro for a couple of years. They cover twenty-one European exchanges including Poland.
Commisions are lower than most brokers, and the FX charge is only 0.1% which puts the 1% to 1.5% charged by most others to shame.
The main drawback for UK investors is that they only offer trading accounts, so no SIPPs or ISAs.

ratinahat001

3rd Nov '17

Thanks!
The shares I was trying to buy were:
SOF B (Softronic AB)
STO3 (Sto SE & Co KGaA
UNIPE (Unipetrol as)

Mike Rawson

3rd Nov '17

The other issue with De Giro is that they are foreign regulated and so you fall under a different compensation scheme.

I have an account and I like them, but I've never felt comfortable putting a lot of money in there.

Rusty2

3rd Nov '17

Some good comments, interesting that you maybe able to convert HL telephone trading to online wish I had known that earlier this year when I wanted to buy Delta Plus SA, price was around Euro 28, it did go online but only after price had gone up to around 45.

HL does charge 1.5% forex fee, which I find excessive. No stoplosses on foreign shares and no auto bids/sells either.

SOF B not available.
STO 3 not available
UNIPE not available. Czech company.

I looked at buying SOP B myself.

De Giro does look good but no ISA.
May try IG as a second platform.

gez

3rd Nov '17

I opened a saxo bank acct initially for option trading, have just checked and you can deal in all 3 companies you mentioned

gez

3rd Nov '17

They have a good iPad / iPhone app too

ratinahat001

3rd Nov '17

Interesting to hear about De Giro. I hadn’t heard of them before. Can I assume that you don’t get a consolidated tax statement from them at the end of the financial year, since they are Dutch?
If they do, I will be having a more thorough look - thanks Brigra.

ratinahat001

3rd Nov '17

Just had a look at Saxo - looks good.

For a tax return, don’t you find it a bit of a hassle without a consolidated tax statement though? I do keep quite good records, but I would still be worried that I had missed something without the tax statement to confirm the capital gain and dividend income.

Brigra

3rd Nov '17

Yes they do produce a y/e statement in GBP. This summarises gains/losses, and analyses dividends by country of origin with gross div, withholding tax etc.
Although the folio balances are in GBP, the statement transactions are only available in local currency so its a bit fiddly to reconcile back to the summary yourself via Excel.

You can keep funds in Euros and other currencies, and they also offer margin if that's of interest.

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Ratinahat001

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