Wednesday July 28, 9:02 pm Eastern Time
E*Trade starts online trading operation in UK
NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - E*Trade Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EGRP - news), the No. 2 U.S. Internet brokerage, said on Wednesday it started to offer Web stock trading in the UK, following in the footsteps of industry leader Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCH - news).
The Menlo Park, Calif.-firm is partnering with Electronic Share Information, a Cambridge, England, company that offers online financial data and news, to bring online trading through the site www.etrade.co.uk.
E*Trade's overseas foray follows an earlier move by Schwab, the No. 1 U.S. discount and Internet brokerage, to bring Web trading to European investors from its London-based operation.
E*Trade, which has concluded a string of joint ventures with overseas partners and other Web brokers hope that Web trading will catch on as fast abroad as it has in the United States.
Some 7 million to 10 million Americans have opened online stock trading accounts in the last three years, creating an entirely new industry. These investors funneled an estimated 575,000 trades per day through the Internet in the second quarter.
In Europe, Internet trading still is in its infancy, with an estimated 100,000 users now. That number is expected to triple by the year's end as Europeans take greater control of their finances, according to market research firm Forrester Research.
E*Trade UK's commissions start at 14.95 British pounds ($24) per stock trade, $9 more than what the brokerage charges in the U.S. but well-below what most U.K. brokers charge. E*Trade will have access to Electronic Share's 250,000 registered users.
Schwab currently has 21,000 online investors with 26,000 online accounts in Europe, the brunt of which are in the UK. By comparison, Schwab has 6.2 million accounts in the U.S. and signed up 422,000 new customers in the second quarter alone. |
