There are following factors
- Brokerage costs
- Availability of ETFs and other instruments
- Ease of investing
- Stamp duties
- Regulations
- Custody fees
- Forex charges
If you compare Swissquote and IBKR, I would say the following because I have accounts in both
#1 -: IBKR is by far the best . Only Saxo even comes close.
#2 -: both are good and I think availability of Swiss bonds and funds on SQ is a plus. But if you mainly want VT , VWRL, SWDA, CHSPI, both have everything
#3 -; not much difference for buy and hold investors
#4 -; SQ has disadvantage because of Swiss law. Itâs not their fault but it does increase costs (0.15% for buy and sell of Foreign ETFs, 0.075% for buy and sell of local CH domicile ETFs)
#5 -: both are well regulated. Only difference is SQ is governed by Swiss law and IBKR seems to have other jurisdictions. But I donât see much issues
#6 -: IBKr is 0, SQ ranges from 80-200 CHF depending on asset value. Above a million there is a premium on SQâŠ
#7 -: FOREX charges, also IBKR wins
I started with IBKR and only added SQ as a backup broker. Going forward I would keep both but maybe higher value at IBKR. I had same dilemma for many months. But in the end I decided that I donât want everything in one broker and if the cost to do so is ~100-200 per year then so be it.
If you are in dilemma , just open account in BOTh. You can buy Swiss ETFs in SQ and World ETF in IB. And just to be clear , you CAN buy and Store VT in both platforms. Just SQ is more expensive in terms of #1 and #4
And you said if anyone compared VT vs VWRL. Actually they are not same indexes so its not apple to apple comparison. VT contains small caps too which VWRL does not. You also need to keep in mind that VWRL shows higher TER but that is not really its Tracking difference, so real cost of management is much lower than 0.22% mentioned on Factsheet. . But I remember that the dividend withholding tax advantage of VT (better) vs VWRL with 40% marginal tax rate is about 0.1%. I read it on this forum, there was a brilliant analysis done by someone.
I checked some data and here is performance for 100 USD invested in VT vs VWRL from June 2012 to Feb 2024. I used JustETF for VWRL and Portfolio visualizer for VT. I am not 100% sure what is assumed dividend tax in these simulations but following is result. It is exactly the same.
1 Jun 2019 to 29 Feb 2024
VT - 325 USD
VWRL - 325 USD
P.S -: I can share referral if you need. But I guess you already have it :). You can also buy in IBKR and then in 1-2 years transfer to SQ for no fees. But of course eventually you might incur selling fees.