In the broker commission auction, the one who offers the least is the winner. And more and more people are fighting to attract investors to listed Spanish companies. Five years ago, only three offered to buy 10,000 euros of shares of any value on the Continuous Market for less than 10 euros. Today there are already 14 of the 16 analyzed due to the pressure exerted by neobrokers and online intermediaries that have burst onto the national scene in recent years, exporting the zero commission model that is triumphing on Wall Street.
They are the so-called European robinhoods, which seek the democratization of investment –what the cheesy would say– and making it available to the largest possible number of investors. The reality, without detracting from its ethical pretensions, is that more and more young people are approaching the world of equities and, in particular, millennials.
This pressure has led traditional banks to considerably lower their commissions compared to those offered at the teller window or through their telephone service – this is the case of and BBVA – and online intermediaries to tighten their belts a little more to gain market share of the market –XTB lowered all its rates this year as Ninety Nine has also done in the US–.
The coronavirus pandemic has probably been one of the biggest disruptive elements in recent history as it has pushed younger generations into the world of investment. But be careful because buying shares is not just paying commissions for buying/selling securities. The investor must also face other fees applied by the broker such as those linked to the custody of securities, for , brokerage, real-time quotes or the cost and ease of filing the tax return each year, among others.
To this is added (tax on financial transactions) that came into force in Spain in January of this year and that is also present in much of Europe with different percentages. The investor must assume an additional cost of 0.2% of his investment in the purchase of shares of companies with a market capitalization value greater than 1,000 million euros. Brokers can transfer it in each operation or group it by periods and transfer it to the client.
Spain is also free to buy
The US has always been a bargain since brokers like DeGiro or eToro landed in Spain, but now so is the national stock market. In general terms, it is the cheapest market in which to invest and can even be achieved at zero cost. XTB is the cheapest broker since it does not cost anything (also in Europe) neither for operations nor for custody – for amounts less than 250,000 euros.
Bux Zero, which already has 10,000 clients, also offers buying/selling at zero euros, but as long as the order is executed at the close of the market (they group all of them together and take advantage of economies of scale). For an order at market or at a limited price, they charge 1 euro for the 55 Spanish companies that they have in their shop window.
The operation of , since, basically, what the broker does is convert the money in the account to dollars, for which it does charge a commission of 0.005% on the nominal. This implies that for an investment of 10,000 euros in Ibex the cost amounts to 5 euros, despite not charging a purchase/sale commission. Santander –and this is new– is the fourth cheapest broker for that amount in its online version if the comparison is limited to the purchase commission. Charge 3 euros per operation for less than 2,000 euros; 6 for amounts up to 15,000 and 0.25% of nominal value for amounts greater than 15,000.
However, the custody commission is 0.25% on the cash with a minimum of 20 euros per year. There are also occasional promotions such as that of Unicaja which, at the moment, does not charge for operations of less than 5,000 euros compared to the 6 fixed euros established for the second year by order of purchase or sale. of custody, it is still one of the cheapest to operate with. They are 2 fixed euros per operation plus 0.05% of the amount, with a maximum of 10 euros (see table of rates).
The jump to Europe
However, the Spanish investor may also be interested in the greater attractiveness of securities outside the national market, given that the Ibex 35 has only risen 12.7% so far this year – the most bearish among the large Europeans. –, compared to 50 in 2021.
Thus, if now the main characteristic of the commissions in Spain is a minimal or null cost for the cases subject to this study, as soon as the purchase/sale commissions for the assets in the European markets are analyzed, the slice of these intermediaries it shoots up This can make a difference for those who decide to invest more modest amounts since they will leave more money on the way with each movement if, for example, they decide to access the French market where their ITF (0.3%) is higher than that of Spain.
The XTB broker repeats as the most profitable
While XTB, Bux Zero and eToro maintain the same fees for using their platform, the rest double their buy/sell commissions on average. In this way, the XTB broker repeats as the most profitable, in terms of fees for each order issued, to venture outside our borders.
In the case of the usual bank brokers in Spain such as EVO Banco, ING, , Abanca and Banco Santander; they raise and match their minimum rate by 20 euros, some through a minimum price and others through a percentage of the money invested. For example, Banco Santander applies an increase of 0.35% nominal surcharge from 15,000 euros while ING, with the same percentage for that cap, changes its commission from 30,000 with a charge of 0.2 %, encouraging operations of greater amount. Even so, these commissions are better than those offered by BBVA, which charges 25 euros for any operation between 2,000 euros and 20,000 euros.
New players in the US
The moment two different currencies are involved in a transaction, the divergences increase even more, even if a direct reflected surcharge derived from the currency change is not applied. Firms that have their origin in the United States, and therefore before offering their services in Spain with national investors, once again have the most affordable rates. The commission in the case of Bux Zero and Ninety (which does not work in Spain or Europe) does not exist, although other costs may apply, such as custody. However, this Thursday a Spanish player has entered the scene who intends to rival those that offer a zero buy/sell commission.
EVO Banco has presented with the one that does not charge for operations in the American market, nor does it charge a custody or subscription commission, according to what the entity itself presented. In addition, they have included a free service with which you can consult real-time quotes from the NYSE and the Nasdaq for the first few months with the possibility of extending the term without added costs for the most active investors who carry out several operations.
It thus stands out from the rest of the Spanish banks that maintain their commissions with the same conditions that apply to the rest of the actions outside our borders.
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