Freetrade acquires Stake’s UK customer base, increasing domestic presence amid intense competition with similar apps such as Robinhood
The British retail investment platform Freetrade is set to acquire the UK customer base of its Australian competitor Stake, highlighting the growing competition in the UK’s digital investment sector. The acquisition, initially reported by CNBC, entails Freetrade assuming responsibility for all of Stake’s UK clients and their assets.
Freetrade currently oversees more than £2 billion in assets for its UK customer base.
Online investments app Robinhood said Thursday 30th November 2023 that it’s set to launch its platform in the U.K. in early 2024, marking the company’s third attempt at cracking international expansion.
Features on offer by the firm include the ability to choose from 6,000 U.S. stocks including Tesla, Amazon and Apple, and 24-hour trading five days a week. However, Robinhood will not offer U.K. stocks to begin with but will look to add them as it brings more products into the platform later. The U.K. version won’t include options and other derivatives at launch, either.
FCA warned of ‘gamification’
The FCA has previously warned about ‘gamification’ of investments, something the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is also worried about. Companies are obligated to respect consumer standards set out by the regulator.
Regulators are concerned brokerage apps like Robinhood and eToro, which engage retail investors with stimulating features like colourful graphics, push notifications, and a game-like interface, may encourage excessive trading that harms investors but is profitable for the market-makers.
Safeguards
Customer cash will be held in segregated accounts protected by U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Commission insurance, Robinhood said, rather than the U.K. Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Robinhood users will be able to make a 5% annual yield on cash held in their accounts.
This will be the third attempt by Robinhood to launch in the UK.
It is widely reported that HSBC‘s online banking system is experiencing some problems today, 24th November 2023.
According to the news reports, many customers are unable to access the app or the website or make payments.
The bank has acknowledged the issue and said it is working hard to fix it as soon as possible. Some users have also reported missing money from their accounts.
Downdetector, which tracks websites, showed more than 4000 people reported they could not access HSBC services.
‘It is impacting HSBC UK customers only – there is no impact to First Direct or M&S Bank customers’, a spokesperson for the bank said.
TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users to create and share short videos. But, it has faced some controversies regarding its algorithm, design, and data protection.
Tiktok has issues
The company was fined $368 million in Europe for failing to protect children’s data. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees TikTok’s activities in the European Union, said that the company had violated the bloc’s signature privacy law.
An investigation by the DPC found that in the latter half of 2020, TikTok’s default settings didn’t do enough to protect children’s accounts.
Anti-social app
TikTok drove online ultra online ‘frenzies’ that encouraged anti-social behaviour to spill over into the real world, a BBC Three investigation revealed.
Ex-employees said that the issue was not being tackled for fear of slowing the growth of the app’s business. These ‘frenzies’ were evidenced by interviews with former staffers, app users and BBC analysis of wider social media data. They included false murder accusations, interference in police investigations, school vandalism, and riots.
TikTok’s algorithm is reportedly failing to provide a safe and positive experience for its users and for society
Anti-social algorithm
The algorithm and design means people are seeing videos which they wouldn’t normally be recommended – which, in turn, incentivise them to do unusual things in their own videos on the platform.
Former employees likened these frenzies to ‘wildfires’ and described them as ‘dangerous’, especially as the app’s audience can be young and impressionable.
