Welcome to the community, great to have you here, Batool!
Could you elaborate on this? I havenāt met too many people in Germany whoād invest. There is a big savings culture though, although my sample may have been too small!
I agree, there has been a big transformation. I personally think a bit more about getting the app culturally right than ālanguage rightā if that makes sense (although both important) - from the standpoint of how people in the given market see their savings and investments.
Hi Vlad! Thank you Iām happy to join the forum
Yeah now I see what you guys mean and yeah, all authorities operate only in German language thatās right, but nevertheless, I think it will be worth the effort.
Regarding the saving and investment, I noticed that they are really keen on saving (all generations). The investment part it depends on the age group or generation differences, like for example the older generation is usually old fashioned and not so open to new ideas, I think they are more likely to invest through their banks or something like that, whereas, the younger generation is really open to new ideas and technologies and an investment app will definitely grab their attention as it will be really exciting and unique as we have nothing like it here (to the best of my knowledge) and their salaries arenāt as big as the older workers so they will be excited to get an opportunity to invest with any amount they have no matter how small it is.
Now I must say that this is only my humble opinion, Iām in no way a financial expert or anything near it but these are only my opinions and observations especially among the younger generation which I come in contact with the most.
What about Switzerland, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia and Slovenia. They are all very Crypto friendly and looks like Crypto trading will be one of the largest growth areas, just look at what Robin Hood is doing in this space ?
Looks like the second half of this year will see a further continued expansion across Crypto.
Never thought about this from that perspectiveā¦ what changes do you & @Freetrade_Team_Design think about making to the app from a aesthetic point of view for it to fit with another country? Iām getting that itās not a one size fits all approachā¦
Great shout. I think @Batool made a point above that our demographic is fairly globalised and speaks English, so a unified community is not entirely impossible.
I personally donāt expect that everyone is comfortable discussing personal finance in a language other than their native one, and weād like to be as localised as possible, e.g. offer the local equivalent of ISAs if possible - which might be awkward to discuss in English as related documents might only exist in e.g. German.
Weāll explore various approaches, but this is a great shout, thanks!
Spain would be a good idea. There are a large number of English speaking expatriates here (I think itās the country in Europe with the largest amount) and often they donāt speak much Spanish. For what Iāve seen there are not so many reasonably priced Spanish brokers. It appears to be mainly banks that offer shares. And the young Spanish seem to be more interested in new ideas. Thereās a new younger government in power too.
So, on the EuroStats website, the closest statistic I could find was āusing mobile bankingā to compare the EU country split. Interestingly Germany is very low on this list. Germany has, however, a much larger population.
The reason for my research this morning was based on listening to an interesting talk on EU fibre penetration on a Reuterās podcast. Apparently, Spain has over 15X higher penetration than Germany!!! Obviously, this has got nothing to do with how many users you will be able to sign up in Germany, but it does raise for some questions if Freetrade wants to use Germany as the second base. I found a similar chart, which they referred to in the talk, but I am unsure of this chartās validity:
@Cgwinning you can check http://www.ftthcouncil.eu I think they are the source for the data. UK might not be included in their EU chart, Iām not sure.
This article explains in good detail why weāre not on the list. Iād love a good fast connection. I hope it happens before my kids get old enough to have their own devices.
I had been meaning to share this a couple of weeks ago, apologies if this has been posted to the community already!
For anyone that hasnāt had the chance to see this, itās EYās survey on European investment attractiveness. The UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands lead the FDI (foreign direct investment) leaderboard, with positive growth recorded in all but the Netherlands. Interestingly, investment sentiment is up 15% points, with ādigitalisationā a key opportunity driver, yo Freetrade :freetrade: ! I also find the EY & client viewpoints interesting, which can be found at the end of most sections.
Would be very interesting if you open your service in Bulgaria and generally in the Balkans in the future.
The main point is that people have the habit to save money there but not much options of where to put them besides real estate.
Also to sign up for a stockbroker is a process like we are still in the 90ās and costs vast amount of money.The cheapest stockbroker charges 12ā¬ per trade.
Thats why we see bank deposit sums skyrocketing and many people even save their money āunder the matressā which is silly to say the least in the 21st century.
With a good marketing campaign you can overtake a huge part of the savings market with ease and open the people to the mythical creature called investing in the stockmarket.
Some Berenberg research on Brexit scenarios for those that might be interested. They have very accurate data and are a great source. I think you guys in the UK are quite news fatigued on this so sorry if its a bit much. Most interesting is the Financial passport. If freetrades passport stands after Brexit thatās great news for your B2B potential through your API.
Nice table youāve got there. It is interestingly dated as of 09/07/18 (i.e. not outdated) and yet the government has announced soft Brexit (which looks like semi-soft from Berenbergās table, the most likely one), hence Johnsonās resignation. Now it is only the matter of details.
Although these are yet limited, it seems like Freetradeās EU passport will soon be very-very handy.
When is expected expansion? Also will it be available in Croatia?
All fintechs tend to avoid Croatia. This will be useful info to keep my freetrade enthusiasm
Weāve shared some information about our plans in this topic so Iāve moved your post here, I hope thatās ok!
To answer your questions, our last update on the timescale for the expansion, in June this year, was -
Our immediate priority is onboarding our customers in the UK, but itās important that weāre prepped now, so that we can enter new markets late this year or next.
The good news is, Viktor mentioned that Croatia is one of the countries that we could expand into so thanks for adding your vote for Freetrade to expand there.
Thereās lots more details in the blog post so please do check that out & feel free to ask if you have any more questions
but these are only my opinions and observations especially among the younger generation which I come in contact with the most.
! I also find the EY & client viewpoints interesting, which can be found at the end of most sections.
so thanks for adding your vote for Freetrade to expand there.