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Finasta

Temporary note: As of November 2011, Finasta’s parent company Snoras has been nationalised by the Lithuanian authorities amid allegations of fraud and seems likely to be wound up. Finasta says it is operationally and legally separate from Snoras, will continue to operate as usual and is expecting to be sold as a going concern to a new investor. This entry will be updated with more information when the outcome becomes clearer.

Finasta is the investment and brokerage arm of Lithuanian banking group Snoras. Among other services, it offers online stock trading for a large number of markets in Eastern Europe and beyond at relatively low rates in many cases.

We don’t have any experience of using this firm or comments from other feedback yet. It’s included in the directory because it may be of interest to investors looking to invest in this region, alongside firms such as Brokerjet, Orion Securities and Swissquote. If you have any feedback, you can send us an email using the contact form.

In terms of likely investor security, while Lithuania is not a top-tier financial centre, it is a regulated market and Finasta is overseen by Securities Commission. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and has implemented the EU directive on minimum investor compensation standards, which means that the Deposit and Investment Insurance Fund provides protection of up to €20,000.

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Broker profile

Orion Securities

Orion Securities is a reasonably well-known investment bank and stock brokerage in Lithuania. The firm offers online stock trading for the Baltics, plus broker-assisted trading for a large number of other markets – most significantly, it covers much of Eastern Europe and rates on many are reasonably low.

We don’t have any experience of using this firm or comments from other feedback yet. It’s included in the directory because it may be of interest to investors looking to invest in this region, alongside firms such as Brokerjet, Finasta and Swissquote. If you have any feedback, you can send us an email using the contact form.

In terms of likely investor security, while Lithuania is not a top-tier financial centre, it is a regulated market and Orion is overseen by Securities Commission. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and has implemented the EU directive on minimum investor compensation standards, which means that the Deposit and Investment Insurance Fund provides protection of up to €20,000.

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Broker profile

Swissquote

Switzerland’s leading discount brokerage offers a reasonable range of North American and European markets for online trading and a far larger number for broker-assisted trades. As far as I know, it’s the only retail-orientated brokerage in Europe that offers markets such as Brazil or Japan’s Osaka Stock Exchange (as opposed to the more widely traded Tokyo exchange) – although Daniel Stewart, a UK institutional firm that accepts private clients, can also access these and more, while the Hong Kong-based Boom Securities and Phillip Securities are other cheaper alternatives for Japan.

The main drawback is the fees. Minimum commissions on the broker-assisted markets are so high that they are unrealistic for most retail investors. This may be understandable, since they will be traded via intermediaries. However, even the online markets are not cheap – you will do better through many other discount brokers.

However, there is no minimum account size and admin fees don’t look unbearable. So if you’re aiming to make a handful of long-term investments of at least US$5,000-10,000 each in some of the more inaccessible markets it offers, Swissquote could be worth a look. Feedback on everything except fees has generally been good.

The Hong Kong and Singapore stock brokers may be alternatives for Asia, while Brokerjet, Finasta and Orion Securities may be worth considering for Eastern Europe.

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Broker profile

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is a US-based firm with registered offices in a number of other countries, including the UK and Hong Kong, and is one of two genuinely global retail brokerages along with Saxo Markets. The firm offers extremely low-cost Direct Market Access to a large number of international exchanges in Asia, Europe and North America.

The underlying service is an institutional-level trading platform – it’s used by many professional traders and small hedge funds – and Interactive Brokers mostly markets its services to very active traders. However, non-traders shouldn’t be put off by that. This is a cheap and efficient solution for many long-term investors as well, with commendably transparent pricing.

There is a minimum monthly fee of US$10 for accounts under US$100,000, offset against commissions, but the low overall charges – including almost free currency conversion – mean that despite this the firm can still be a surprisingly cheap option even for relatively infrequent traders.

It is still difficult to recommend Interactive Brokers for inexperienced investors, as the technical support team will not walk you through everything with the same patience as a more retail-focused stock broker. That said, the web portal has become more user-friendly over the last few years.