A reader has asked: Is the EQi platform a competitive investment account?
EQi was formely known as Selftrade was acquired by Equiniti in 2015 and has been rebranded to reflect the group ownership. Equiniti of course is FTSE 250 listed company and manages and administers the shares of some 70% of the FTSE 100 companies for some 70 million shareholders.
The rebrand to EQi is more than just cosmetic and there has been an overhaul of both technology and the product range offered by the platform.
EQi now offers ISAs, SIPPs and share dealing accounts alongside child trust funds and lifetime ISAs. There is an ew mobile trading app as well though for the moment this is only available for Apple devices and not Android.
There are a variety of non-standard order types available to EQi clients including stops and limits and stop losses.
Clients can trade in a wide range of UK, European and US equities and ETFs as well as in bonds, managed funds, traditional and covered warrants, as well as structured products. Though there are suitability criteria that need to be met before you can trade or invest in complex products.
Account opening can be done on line using a very clear and well laid out interface on the EQi website.
The charging structure at the firm consist of custody fees which start at £17.49 per quarter for a standard dealing account rising to £22.48 per quarter for either ISA or SIPP accounts.
Custody fees can be offset by dealing commissions and if you account qualifies for this facility, two trades per quarter at a commission of £10.99 per trade would effectively negate the custody charges.
Lifetime ISA account holders who dont have another EQi account have a diffeent fee structure and pay 0.2% or a maximum of £40 per annum.
EQi Dealing charges are as follows:
| Asset | Online | Telephone | Frequent trader rate |
| Shares, Investment Trusts, Bonds, Gilts | £10.99 | £27.50 | £5.99 |
| Exchange Traded Products (including Exchange Traded Funds) | £9.99 | £9.99 | £5.99 |
| Mutual Fund (Unit Trust and OEICs) Purchases | Free | Free | Free |
| Mutual Fund (Unit Trust and OEICs) Sales | £10.99 | £10.99 | £5.99 |
The frequent trader rate applies to accounts that trade 20 times or more in a calendar month trades on all of your accounts held at EQi count towards that figure.
Note as well that ther are additional fees for trading in international stocks the charges are levied on a sliding scale which starts at 0.95% for trades of £25,000 or less, falling to 0.3% for trades of £100,000 or more.
There are fees for holding mutual funds in ISAs and SIPPs ranging from 0.3% pr annum for investment of £50,000 or less falling to 0.15% per annum for holdings of £250,000 or greater.
EQi is not the cheapest overall provider on the street but its dealing commissions are competitive with the market leader. EQi’s standard £10.99 dealing commission on UK shares and bonds is 95p lower than that charged by Hargreaves Lansdown.
Though Hargreaves active account commission,for 20 or more deals per month is slightly cheaper at £5.95 versus EQi’s £5.99 charge
Trading foreign equities through EQi does look relatively expensive when compared to Hargreaves Landsdown, particularly if you trading in clips of £20,000 to £50,000 per time where Hargreaves has amore aggressive skiding commission schedule albeit labelled as FX charges.
Given EQi’s ownership and the track record that Equinti have in stocks and share administration it would tempting to think that you would receive excellent service and customer support here. And for those investors who are not shopping exclusively on cost the heritage of the parent group could well be a draw.
Is the EQi platform competitive?
EQi was formely known as Selftrade was acquired by Equiniti in 2015 and has been rebarbded to reflect the group ownership. Equiniti of course is FTSE 250 listed company and manages and administers the shares of some 70% of the FTSE 100 companies for some 70 million shareholders.
The rebrand to EQi is more than just cosmetic and there has been an overhaul of both technology and the product range offered by the platform.
EQi now offers ISAs, Sipps and share dealing accounts alongside a child trust funds and
For more information on EQi you can read our EQi review and customer satisfaction scores.
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