Trade Republic, Europe's largest savings platform, has launched in Ireland, offering users commission-free access to capital markets.
Residents of Ireland can now use the Trade Republic app or website to trade more than 8,000 Irish, European, Asian and US stocks and 1,100 ETFs and access to real-time data, price alerts, and extended trading hours of 7:30am to 11pm.
Savings plans, with which users can automate investing in the stock markets, are also available for over 3,600 stocks and ETFs.
Founded by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, and Marco Cancellieri in Berlin seven years ago, Trade Republic launches in Ireland at a time when households save an average of 20% of their income.
The company said that much of that income sits in bank account and that Irish residents who do invest face high brokerage fees and are presented with cryptic investment products.
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"Through our easy-to-understand product, we want to encourage everyone to take advantage of opportunities in the financial markets,” said Hecker.
“50% of our customers have never invested before, and now consider Trade Republic a reference for savings plans and for the long-term growth of their own funds.
"We are delighted to now also offer all Irish the opportunity to access capital markets in a safe, easy and convenient way.”
Hecker went onto say that with inflation flirting with double digits, Europeans need to access the capital markets to invest for the long term, save for their retirement and participate in economic growth.
"We built Trade Republic to enable them to do exactly that, and have now opened our doors to a total of seventeen markets, so Europeans everywhere can finally take their personal finances into their own hands," he said.
Hugo Suidgeest, country manager for Trade Republic in Ireland, added: "With inflation being at almost nine percent in Ireland, there really is no alternative to investing.
“Everyone who leaves their money just sitting in their bank account will lose purchasing power year over year, and the state pension - even if you work until 70 years of age - will probably not be enough to keep up your lifestyle.”
Users can set up a Trade Republic account with a SEPA bank account and a European telephone number. The app is available for iOS and Android.
Trade Republic has received €1.3bn in investment from Sequoia, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan as well as Accel, Creandum, Project A, TCV and Thrive Capita.
The service is now available in 17 European countries after launching in Ireland, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia on Tuesday.
(Pic: Getty Images)
