Interactive brokers UK or US account?

Investing / Brokers
1

Hello everyone

I just opened an account in interactive brokers and it created a UK based account.

In the guide: Why choose Interactive Brokers? - Mustachian Post (aka Marc Pittet) #FIRE #frugalism?

under: 3. Protecting your securities and cash

I see references to SPIC

I was wondering if I need to open an account in Interactive Brokers US to have this protection or does it suffice to have the Interactive Brokers UK account.

Can anyone shine light on this subject?

Thanks in advance

2

As a Swiss investor, you can’t open an account on IB US. And IB UK has the SIPC protection as well. So, you are all set :slight_smile:

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4

Interesting. I never actually tried, but I have been told that IB US was only for US investors.

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5

Thank you for your comments. Indeed it was the crypto options that made me wonder.

6

Hello, I would like to create an account with IBKR. Depending on instructions found in the internet, reference is made to interactivebrokers co uk or sometimes to interactivebrokers com.

My question now is:

Is there a difference? Where did you create the account?

7

Welcome markus654!

IBKR has many different countries running accounts, and it depends on your country of residence. As far as I know for all of us in Switzerland we depend from the U.K. entity (and we don’t really have a choice about it). I guess even if you tried to register on the .com website it would probably redirect you to the U.K. entity as soon as it knows you are in Switzerland anyway.

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8

Speaking of which:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/britain-switzerland-agree-wide-ranging-financial-services-trade-deal-2023-12-21/

9

Hi @ProvidentRetriever, thank you for your answer!

10

As a swiss resident you are directed to open an account via Interactive Brokers UK

IBKR UK acts as an “introducing agent” (not sure if that is the right term) to IBKR US. For stocks your trading happens at IBKR US and your stocks are held in custody by IBKR US.

I asked IBKR customer service about the location of stocks, cash, mutual funds and what happens in the event of death and got a very clear explanation. The message has expired and been deleted from my account. I did not download it so I will have to ask it again.

I tried to find information online and could only find the following link - see 7 c)
IBKR Fact Sheet | Interactive Brokers LLC

11

I would just like to add something that I wished I had read before I had opened my IBKR account. There are ref codes and they are actually a decent deal. You basically get a 1% of your deposits as return in IBKR stocks that you can sell after a year. I won’t share my code here as it’s probably against the forum rules (and honestly it’s somewhat harder to get anything as the referrer anyway) so just try to find one or worst case send a dm to the person that helped you the most in this forum with their posts/comments.

I hope I’m not breaking any rules but I wanted to mention it anyway because it’s not an insignificant bonus, so it should be considered.

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12

Fwiw, my IBKR account is with the US entity (predating their European presence). A year or two ago they tried to push me to switch to the UK - without offering any support in transferring information or assets, so I declined - haven’t heard back since.

13

I believe there are differences in protection and also the UK one didn’t allow transactions regarding bitcoin (including entities such as GBTC) at least didn’t the last time I checked.

14

“The agreement focuses on wholesale activity and private wealth management, and excludes smaller retail customers.”

:face_vomiting:

15

I would like to open an IBKR account and I don’t really have a referral code, could you give me one if you have ? :slight_smile:

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16

Of course.

Sent you a dm

17

I know this thread is old but maybe someone can anwser my question. I’m a swiss resident and i have a US account. IBKR changed my account from UK to US after i requested so i could invest into BTC. Now i don’t invest into BTC anymore over IBKR. Now my question is: Would it be better to change my account back to the UK?

18

In my eyes: no.

  1. Doesn‘t matter for Swiss taxes, if it is a UK or US account, everything is processed through US.
  2. You can buy stuff with US account you cannot with UK (at least, that was the issue half a year ago, e.g. IBIT).
  3. Since you can now trade BTC through thr UK account, IBRK does not allow new US account openings.

I would keep the US account.

1 Like
19

Thank you for your quick replie. Appreciate that.

20

I tried to buy money market funds this week and couldn’t. I wonder if that works in your US account.

When did you switch to the US and did you need to provide any documents? Did you just create a ticket to achieve this?

I would prefer to have a less restrictive account.

21

Don’t you need US residence to get access to US mutual funds (like MMFs)?