Is Revolut good for investing?

Popular neobank Revolut has expanded its investing offering in the UK.

As a consequence, you can now quickly access global markets and asset classes on the platform via Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). You can also tuck up your investments inside the cosy tax-free confines of a stocks and shares ISA. There’s lovely. 

These welcome moves come on top of Revolut’s existing range of shares, precious metals, and crypto tokens.

More is always definitely more. If not always, contrary to popular opinion, ‘the merrier’. (Invite TI to a party and find out.)

So while we’re always happy to see new options, we must ask: is Revolut good for investing? Whether you’re an existing user or thinking of becoming one?

Let’s dive in.

Investing with Revolut

Revolut Invest is an app-only experience. And a very attractive, streamlined app it is too. It’ll take you all of about ten minutes to get the hang of the investment features. Albeit that’s mostly because there aren’t many.

Here’s what you can do…

Invest in US, UK, and European Economic Area stocks

There are over 4,000 shares to choose from. Though relatively few are priced in pounds – and that will matter when we come to the fees.

Trade a range of 161 ETFs

That’s not many, especially when many of them are priced in euros. (Currency exchange fee alert!)

Stock up on precious metals

There’s gold, silver, platinum, and even palladium if you fancy it.

These aren’t ETCs.1 You’re buying physical quantities of shiny metals as expressed in troy ounces.

Sadly, you can’t take delivery of the bars nor see a photo of your personal treasure chest. But you can pay a mate in gold – if they’re also a Revolut customer. This may get expensive.

The crypto service isn’t contained within the investing section of the app. That’s because crypto is not an investment! [Hollers into the void / at his own co-blogger.]

How much does Revolut investing cost?

Okay, it couldn’t be simpler. Ahem. [Draws a deep breath.]

You pay the trade fee once you’ve used up your free trades for the month. The fee is levied on the value of each order.

For example, a £1,000 trade incurs a £2.50 fee – once your free trade allowance is exhausted.

For £180 a year, you can be a Trading Pro. This tier grafts on to your existing plan and reduces your trading fee to 0.12%. It also bestows other benefits like Level 2 market data and the ability to trade up to $250,000 a throw on US stocks. Handy, for someone I’m sure.

FX fees

FX fees apply only when you breach your monthly currency exchange allowance.

The allowance per plan is:

• Standard: £1,000
• Plus: £3,000
• Other plans: No FX charges

Want to exchange currency at the weekend? That’s an extra 1% (Standard) and 0.5% (Plus) on top of the FX fee detailed above.

Your monthly allowance does not apply at the weekends. It must be visiting its nan.

Precious metals fees

Standard or Plus: 0.99% of the trade’s value or £1 – whichever is higher

Other plans: 0.49% of the trade’s value or £1 – whichever is higher

And…

Revolut’s spread.

And…

The FX fees as explained above.

This can all mount up.

Other fees

Do note that these plans also cover Revolut’s broader range of services, beyond investing.

Set against that, there are extra banking fees to think about if you’re considering Revolut. They may not be what you’re used to. (Look out for the cashpoint withdrawal charges!)

How do Revolut’s investing fees compare?

You can invest more cheaply elsewhere, even if you’re a Revolut customer paying into a plan already.

Trading 212 (affiliate link) and Lightyear are app-first investment platforms that offer stocks and ETFs for a keen fee. They’re both so-called zero commission brokers and their FX charges are lower than Revolut’s.

InvestEngine focuses purely on ETFs and has also eliminated trade fees and platform costs for DIY investors.

Check out our broker comparison table for more options. And this is how to smash your investment FX fees.

What if I want to pay a fee?

Many investors worry that the zero commission broker business model could be unsustainable. If that’s you then Revolut’s Standard and Plus plans look reasonable value – provided you can avoid racking up trading charges.

You could, for example, pound cost average into one GBP-priced ETF per month on the Standard Plan. Fees incurred: £0 per month.

However, the Premium Plan et al look expensive if purely chosen for investing services.

What investment account types does Revolut offer?

Revolut provides two types of investment account:

1. Stocks and shares ISA 
2. General Investment Account (GIA)

The Stocks and Shares ISA is flexible. Revolut doesn’t offer JISAs or pensions.

You can’t transfer into the stocks and shares ISA. (Yet.)

Transfers out are cash only.

That is, you’ll need to sell your investments (potentially incurring fees) and spend time in cash and out of the market if you want away from Revolut. Exit fees do not apply.

It looks like you can transfer in General Investment Accounts2 from some brokers.

The minimum order value is one pound, dollar, or euro, depending upon which currency you’re trading in.

You can hold fractional shares for stocks but there’s no mention of whether the same is true for ETFs.

Finally, customer service is chat-only. Forget telephones.

Is Revolut safe for investing?

If Revolut went bust and the value of your stocks or ETFs was irrecoverable, then you’d be covered by the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). 

In a nutshell, the scheme is designed to pay out up to £85,000 per person if your FCA authorised investment platform fails. 

Revolut says its investing service is protected by the FSCS scheme.  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Firm Reference Number (FRN) is 933846 for the investment arm of Revolut.

Precious metals are a different matter: they’re unregulated. FSCS compensation does not apply. Other FCA regulations do not apply. Moreover, Revolut states the Financial Ombudsman probably wouldn’t step in if you had a complaint.

Read the Risks section of this terms and conditions page before you invest in precious metals with Revolut.

Cash isn’t FSCS protected either.

Is Revolut good for ETF investing?

The ETF range is limited at the moment. In my opinion it’s not very well curated.

Many funds are priced in Euros. That isn’t ideal if you’re keen to avoid FX fee entanglements.

Precious metal ETCs are entirely missing. This prevents you from investing in gold holdings that can benefit from FSCS protection. (I don’t suppose that’s because Revolut would rather not cannibalise its precious metals business, huh?)

You can put together a reasonably-priced passive portfolio with the ETFs available. But many categories are only represented by one GBP-priced fund. And some sub-asset classes are missing altogether.

Searching for ETFs is also finickity.

Granted, they all appear as a big long list in an obvious place. But the only way to filter is by popping your best taxonomic guess into the search field – which is hit-and-miss.

For instance, the term ‘Emerging Markets’ elicited only euro-priced ETFs. The GBP-priced versions didn’t show up, because they were tagged with the infinitely cooler-sounding ‘EM’.

Meanwhile, the term ‘bonds’ snubbed ETFs identifying as gilts. And so on.

Given the app’s general slickness, its ETF-tracing powers seem unnecessarily cumbersome. Perhaps that will change with future updates.

In other news, there’s no regular investing plan. Though those wily European Revolut customers have one, so maybe this feature will come to Blighty one day, too.

Finally, there’s very little on the investor education side. Happily though you can get that from Monevator. Start with this piece on passive investing and this one featuring low-cost ETFs.

Revolut investing review summary

Revolut offers existing customers an easy pathway into investing. However, cheaper, better-featured alternatives are available from the dedicated investment platforms.

Pros

• Clean and navigable app that doesn’t overwhelm
• Straightforward if you’re an existing customer
• Low minimum order value

Cons

• Limited range of ETFs
• Complicated fee structure
• Unregulated precious metals offering
• Can’t transfer ISAs in. Can only transfer out in cash

Trustpilot review score: 4.5 (but most reviewers are commenting on Revolut’s banking services.)

Take it steady,

The Accumulator

1. Exchange Traded Commodities. [↩]
2. That is, ordinary share trading accounts, not ISAs or SIPPs. [↩]