SINGAPORE – Fintech company Revolut is now offering stock trading services to its customers in Singapore, enabling them to gain access to the United States stock market, it said on Tuesday.
The new feature will allow users of its financial app to buy and sell US stocks on a fractional basis, which means they can trade for as little as US$1 (S$1.30), it added.
All fees will be waived until March, after which customers will be charged a commission fee of 99 US cents per order.
The firm is able to keep its fees low as it is a mobile-only platform and does not need to bear the costs of manual processing associated with running a physical operation.
The move to launch its stock trading feature in Singapore is expected to make it easier for investors here to trade US stocks and lighten their fee obligations, said Mr Deepak Khanna, head of wealth and trading at Revolut Singapore.
“Traditional providers sting customers with a whole slew of hidden fees including brokerage, mark-ups on foreign exchange into US dollars, as well as deposit and withdrawal fees,” he noted.
Revolut, which aims to help customers gain access to a suite of financial products on its app, was launched in Britain in 2015. Its business here, Revolut Technologies Singapore, has been regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a major payment institution since October 2020.
Mr Khanna said a decision was made to launch stock trading in US stock exchanges over other bourses as investors can take advantage of the large market size, high liquidity, diverse investment options and the ability to invest in fractional shares. “With the current business cycle, the US market presents numerous opportunities to customers through exchange traded funds and single stocks, enabling them to diversify across different sectors and regions without the need for minimum trades,” he added.
Revolut joins online brokers Futu Singapore, which runs the Moomoo Singapore investing app, and Tiger Brokers Singapore in providing easy access to the US stock market.
Said Moomoo Singapore managing director Gavin Chia: “Based on our observations, the US stock market is the preferred market among our users. This is largely attributed to our low trading fees for US stocks and variety of stocks offered on the Nasdaq exchange.”
Currently, the most heavily traded US stocks on Moomoo Singapore include Tesla, Futu Holdings, Nvidia Corporation, AMC Entertainment Holdings and Apple, said Mr Chia.
According to Futu’s recent findings, most of its Singaporean investors are planning to invest and allocate more funds to their trading accounts despite slower global growth this year.
Both Futu and Tiger Brokers also offer stock trading in other markets, including Hong Kong and Singapore.
Mr Khanna said there are plans to include trading in the Singapore Exchange and other Asian bourses on the Revolut Singapore app. It will also add more investment products here.
Last November, Tiger Brokers launched a three-year investment-grade bond fund managed by UOB Asset Management on its trading app. Futu’s Moomoo Singapore app also offers a range of wealth management products, including mutual funds and money market funds.
