Is DEGIRO a Scam? Is DEGIRO Safe and Legitimate in 2023?
DEGIRO is one of the most popular brokers in Europe, and for good reason. DEGIRO investors can access global exchanges, low fees, and user-friendly trading software.
Despite its popularity, many still ask, “Is DEGIRO safe?”
The short answer is yes. DEGIRO is a safe broker with many methods to protect its customers from financial harm. Continue reading to see why DEGIRO is not a scam.
DEGIRO Overview
The broker is fully licensed, regulated, and insured by the largest oversight organizations in Germany and the Netherlands. With operations in nearly 20 countries, DEGIRO also adheres to the local laws of each of its host countries.
Maintaining a pan-European presence in the brokerage space would not be possible if the broker didn’t adhere to the various laws and regulations placed before it.
Is DEGIRO Legitimate?
DEGIRO is an Amsterdam-based broker, but the parent company (flatexDEGIRO Bank AG) is registered in Germany. For that reason, DEGIRO is registered with both Dutch and German oversight organizations.
In Germany, DEGIRO is regulated by the German Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin). DEGIRO is regulated by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) in the Netherlands.
In addition to DEGIRO’s primary regulatory bodies, oversight committees in the 18 countries DEGIRO operates in also ensure the broker’s activities are on the up and up. Examples include the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, the European Central Bank (ECB), The Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB), and the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA).
DEGIRO Promotion
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Is DEGIRO Insured?
The systems in place to guard against financial loss are relatively complex, but investor funds are protected.
Examples include Asset Segregation and the various Investor Protection Schemes. Again, each country DEGIRO operates in has its own national financial industry protection laws. The coverage they bring to the table also applies.
Asset Segregation
Asset Segregation is a program that puts investor funds and investments into the custody of a third-party (SPV) actor. The money and securities are safe from any legal trouble DEGIRO may face, including bankruptcy and creditor claims. That means when you deposit money into a DEGIRO brokerage account, you can rest assured that your money is tucked securely away.
Cash Account
Another way that DEGIRO helps keep investor funds safe is by placing uninvested cash into a DEGIRO cash account. Since DEGIRO is also a bank, money in the cash account is protected like funds in a regular bank account are. The German Deposit Guarantee Scheme protects up to €100,000 of the uninvested cash balance.
Reviews and Public Opinion
In addition to the legal obligations guaranteeing customer security, we can also look at the experiences and opinions of DEGIRO’s customer base to see how trustworthy DEGIRO is. Investors are quick to outline their experiences, and we can get many clues about how reliable a broker is based on public opinion.
One good place to find reviews and opinions for DEGIRO is Trustpilot.
Trustpilot Rating
There are several Trustpilot pages for DEGIRO since the broker operates in 18 different countries. Each one reflects the opinions of reviews of the traders in those specific countries.
DEGIRO rates highly in all of them and is rated somewhere between 4.1 (Netherlands) to 4.9 (Czech Republic) stars out of 5. On average, we can say that DEGIRO has a Trustpilot rating of 4.5.
Notably, Trustpilot reviews and opinions are the drivers of the Trustpilot score. While the platform does provide more weighting for organic reviews that are more recent, the star ratings come from actual DEGIRO customers.
Also worth noting is that DEGIRO does not ask for Trustpilot reviews, and the broker is very good about responding to customer feedback, whether it be positive or negative.
Trustpilot Reviews
So, what are investors saying about DEGIRO?
There are many recurring themes within the customer reviews on Trustpilot. Here is a quick summary.
- Secure
- Easy to use and beginner friendly
- Wide selection of investible securities
- Low fees
- Access to ‘lots of’ markets
- Excellent platform with intuitive design
- Good customer service
As you can see, investors have many good things to say about DEGIRO as a broker, but there are also a few areas where the broker can improve.
Although limited in number, some investors point to high FX exchange rates, no fractional share trading, and a lack of some popular U.S.-listed indexes.
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Is DEGIRO Safe in Review
To sum up, we can say that DEGIRO can be trusted as a broker and financial services company. The broker has all the necessary licenses and certifications for each country it operates in. Additionally, it undergoes regular quality checks by some of Europe’s most influential regulatory bodies to ensure everything operates as it should.
If you are looking for a trustworthy pan-European broker, DEGIRO is undoubtedly worth your consideration.
Updated on 3/6/2023.