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Interactive Investor to cut its share and fund dealing charges from £7.99 to £5.99 as it battles it out with low commission trading apps
- From 1 September the standard dealing charge will be £5.99
- The cost of trades in non-US international shares will also be cut to £5.99
- Customers will continue to receive their first trades free each month
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DIY investing platform Interactive Investor has announced plans to cut its standard dealing charges as competition among low commission investing apps heats up.
From 1 September, the standard online dealing charge for UK and US trades will be cut from £7.99 to £5.99 for ii’s standard Investor plan* as well its Pension Builder Sipp plan.
The reduction will also apply to members of ii’s Friends and Family service, who already benefit from a free subscription.
But while investors will benefit from cheaper buying and selling of investments, their free trading credit given each month with their subscription will expire sooner – lasting just one month instead of three.
Investment platform interactive investor has slashed its online dealing charges
Customers on the Super Investor plan will see a 40 per cent in the cost of online trades in non-US international shares from £9.99 to £5.99 too.
This comes after ii cut US trading costs from £4.99 to £3.99 earlier this year.
The platform says the new charges widen the gap with other platforms when trading UK and US shares, ETFs and investment trusts.
Platforms like ii are facing increased competition from robo-advice services, traditional DIY investing giants like AJ Bell* and Hargreaves*, as well as the new breed of platforms like free share dealing app Freetrade*.
Earlier this year Bestinvest* announced it had cut some of its fees as part of a wider relaunch to attract more investors. It slashed its share-trading fees from £7.50 to £4.95 as it battles other platform businesses.
By comparison AJ Bell and Hargreaves charge £9.95 and £11.95, respectively.
Customers using ii’s Investor and Super Investor plans will also continue to receive their first trades free each month. However from next month the expiry date on these free monthly trades will move from 90 days to 31 days.
The Pension Builder plan doesn’t come with a free monthly trade.
Richard Wilson, CEO of ii, said: ‘We work constantly to bring better value, choice and service to the UK retail investor. And with our standard trading charge now reduced to £5.99, our great value simple fixed fee subscription service just got even better.
‘Our trading charges remain proudly impartial, with no preferential treatment for shares, funds, investment trusts or ETFs so the right choice is always what is right for the customer.
‘Investors can’t control the markets, inflation or interest rates. But they can control their investment costs – and over the long run the savings can be huge.’
The ii Investor and Super Investor plans come with as many free junior ISAs as customers have children. Super Investor also includes a free subscription to the Friends and Family service, which is usually an extra £5 a month. It allows customers customers to gift a free subscription for up to five people.
Wilson added: ‘Cutting investment platform costs is a simple, effective and reliable way to get the most out of your investments. We encourage investors to compare platforms and find the service that delivers the best value for them.
‘We know that ii can deliver very substantial savings over the long-term as wealth grows through our pension and investment accounts.’