By
staff writer
March 26th, 2024
Robinhood has announced plans to suspend the proposed launch of its trading app in the UK as it wants to focus on its business in the U.S.
Robinhood recently announced plans to suspend the UK launch of its app. The company revealed its plan in an email sent to the almost 250 thousand UK customers on its waiting list. Based in California, the fintech company offers trading services to investors and customers on its mobile app and website. Now, the commission-free company has scrapped its plan to focus on its primary business in the U.S. A spokesman of the company also confirmed the announcement in a recent statement saying:
“A lot has changed in the world over the past few months, and we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone our UK launch indefinitely. As a company, we are focusing our efforts to strengthen our core business in the US.”
However, the statement suggested that the company is open to launching in the UK at a later date:
“Although our global expansion plans are on hold for now, we are committed to demonstrating finance for more people around the world. We look forward to the day when we can bring this mission to the UK.”
Earlier Robinhood Plans to Launch App in the UK
Robinhood announced a “coming to the UK” for the first time in 2019. The company revealed the plan in a blog post on the 19th of November. Also, in November, the fintech company opened a waitlist for its UK customers. This was after securing its broker authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority.
With the app’s launch, the company said its customers would be able to invest in most international companies. Some of the proposed companies include Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE), and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL). According to the initial plan, UK customers would have options to invest in over 3,000 U.S. stocks and more than 1,000 stocks globally. A UK launch would have been Robinhood’s first market outside the U.S.
Since its app launch in 2013, Robinhood has developed over the years and now has over 13 million users. The firm also uses its commission-free advantage to target young people who are new to investing. According to a report by Investopedia, the fintech firm presently has about “10 million accounts held by an unknown number of customers.”
The report also revealed the major attractions Robinhood offers its customers. The company offers low charges for trading as well as gives customers instant access to deposited cash. In addition, the Robinhood app and website are simple and non-complicated.
Recently, lawmakers in the US have been putting Robinhood under pressure to improve the trading app’s security and interface. This was after a 20-year-old trader, Alexander Kearns, committed suicide on the 12th of June following confusion over his negative balance of $730,000. CNN reported that “the Kearns family believes Alexander was misled by the app’s interface suggesting he owed $730,000, when that was not really the case.”