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Robinhood, the trading app that took the United States by storm during the pandemic lockdowns, is having another go at cracking the UK market.

The company, a key beneficiary of the craze in so-called “meme” stocks which took hold in 2020 and 2021, first announced plans for a UK launch in 2020.

On that occasion, having opened a waiting list for would-be clients in 2019 that reportedly attracted 300,000 potential customers, it shelved plans in order to concentrate on its home US market following an explosion of interest there.

More recently, in August last year, it sought to buy Ziglu, a UK-based cryptocurrency trading app, for $170m only for the deal to fall through.

It will now be hoping that it is third time lucky.

A compelling offer in a competitive market

The offer for would-be customers is pretty compelling but, with the likes of Freetrade, eToro, Trading 212 and Revolut all now offering commission-free share trading, it needs to be.

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Robinhood is offering commission-free trading of more than 6,000 US-listed stocks and ADRs (American Depository Receipts) with no foreign exchange fees and customers will be able to trade around the clock and out of hours.

Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s co-founder and chief executive, points out that, during the recent turmoil at OpenAI, a lot of customers and market participants had been tweeting screenshots from Robinhood of the share price of Microsoft – a major investor in the AI business and which offered its ousted (and later reinstated) chief executive, Sam Altman, a job almost immediately.

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Vladimir Tenev said that, over time, the ability to trade UK and European stocks on the Robinhood would grow.

He told Sky News: “We are offering those US stocks 24 hours a day, five days a week through our 24 hour market, we became the first major broker in the US to offer round the clock trading of individual named stocks.

“That’s a capability that you won’t find elsewhere.”

He said that, over time, the ability to trade UK and European stocks on the platform would become available.

But perhaps the kicker is that the business will be offering customers an interest rate of 5% on any uninvested cash in their brokerage account.

That is something Mr Tenev clearly hopes will lure customers away not only from commission-free trading rivals – most of whom are relative upstarts in the industry – but also some sector’s established big guns such as Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Interactive Investor, which is owned by the fund manager Abrdn.

It is also worth noting that Robinhood only offers an interest rate of that magnitude to its premium customers in the US.

The big profit question

One big question here is how Robinhood will be able to offer a proposition like this to UK customers and remain profitable.

In the US, it can offer commission-free trading by accepting payments from market-makers – the market professionals who quote two-way prices at which they will either buy or sell a security – to execute the trades made by its customers.

But this practice, known as “payment for order flow”, is not allowed in the UK.

Mr Tenev’s response is that payment for order flow now only accounts for a small portion of Robinhood’s revenues in the US – perhaps because some US regulators have been pondering about the desirability of the practice.

He said: “If you look at Robinhood’s business, actually, in the past couple of quarters, we’ve diversified it tremendously.

“More than half of our revenue comes from net interest. And that’s through a number of offerings, we collect a small spread on the cash, even though we do offer 5% interest.

“We offer stock lending, which shares interest generated by stocks, customers are holding in their account with customers, but also generates revenue for the firm. So we’ve continued to diversify. And equity is payment for order flow, which you mentioned, is right around 5% of our revenue.

“And we’ve been growing our revenues. So what we aim to do is, again, offer the best economics to our customers and make it clear to customers that they’re getting an unbelievable value proposition and experience with Robinhood.

“But of course, the business is sustainable. And we might operate at thinner margins than the incumbents. But the business still makes money. We’ve demonstrated that and we’re continuing to diversify it over time.”

Robinhood logo

Will the UK be enthusiastic about stock trading?

Another big question is whether the UK will ever be as enthusiastic about stock trading as in the US.

Even there, transaction volumes have slipped in recent months as Americans have returned to the office, sporting events – a rival attraction for those interested in punting rather than investing – have resumed and the savings built up by households during the lockdowns have been run down.

If Robinhood can get Britons buying shares actively again, it will be thanked by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, who recently announced plans for a possible offer of the government’s remaining shares in NatWest with the words “it’s time to get Sid investing again”, a reference to the successful “Tell Sid” advertising campaign in 1986 that persuaded more than 1.5 million people to invest in shares of British Gas when it was privatised by Margaret Thatcher’s government.

Robinhood has been criticised in the US for encouraging the “gamification” of trading. The criticism reached a peak after a 20-year old Robinhood customer killed himself in June 2020 after running up losses of $750,000 on the options market.

Mr Tenev insists Robinhood has learned from the experience. The app now includes many more educational resources aimed at helping clients invest more knowledgably and to make more informed decisions.

Regulators will be watching closely, though, to ensure that investors are not being encouraged to take reckless risks.

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Reeves to meet US financiers as Trump presidency kicks off

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Reeves to meet US financiers as Trump presidency kicks off

Rachel Reeves will hold talks with some of Wall Street’s leading financiers in Davos this week, less than hours after Donald Trump’s second US presidency gets underway.

Sky News understands that the chancellor will attend a breakfast hosted by JP Morgan on Wednesday amid speculation about the threat of US tariffs being imposed on the UK as well as the prospects for a bilateral trade deal between the two countries.

Among those attending the meeting will be Filippo Gori, JP Morgan’s European chief; Richard Gnodde, who runs Goldman Sachs’s international operations; Sharon Yeshaya, Morgan Stanley’s chief financial officer; and Jenny Johnson, president and chief executive of Franklin Templeton.

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The talks, to be held during the annual World Economic Forum, will come amid growing concern about the impact of the chancellor’s October budget on sentiment among international investors in Britain.

Despite hailing £63bn of investment committed at a key summit, weeks before Ms Reeves’s first fiscal event, the government’s non-dom reforms have sparked fears about an exodus of wealth creators from the UK.

The chancellor will use Wednesday’s event to talk up the government’s economic agenda, even after a torrid period which saw a spike in the cost of government borrowing, sparking brief comparisons with the aftermath of the Liz Truss administration’s mini-budget in 2022.

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City sources said that Alexandra Soto, Lazard’s chief operating officer; David Livingstone, Citi’s chief client officer; and Philip Freise, KKR’s co-head of European private equity would be among those also attending the meeting.

Ms Reeves will hold other meetings with bankers, foreign governments and British company chiefs during her trip to Davos.

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‘We need to grow our economy’

Earlier this month, she travelled to China for the first formal financial summit between the two countries for about six years.

The Treasury has been contacted for comment, while none of the firms represented at Wednesday’s summit who were contacted by Sky News would comment.

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TikTok starts restoring service after Donald Trump confirms he will sign order pausing US ban

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TikTok starts restoring service after Donald Trump confirms he will sign order pausing US ban

TikTok has begun restoring service to the app in the US after Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order pausing its ban.

A law signed by President Joe Biden last April required ByteDance, TikTok‘s China-based parent company, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner by Sunday or face a ban.

Some users reported that they lost access on Saturday night, and Americans opening the app on Sunday have been greeted with a message saying they “can’t use” TikTok “for now”.

But in a post on Truth Social ahead of his inauguration, Mr Trump said he would issue an executive order handing the app an extension to find a new owner.

TikTok has shut down for US users. Pic: Kirsty Hickey
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TikTok users in the US were unable to use the app on Sunday. Pic: Kirsty Hickey

“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark,” the president-elect wrote, adding the order will allow time “so that we can make a deal to protect our national security”.

He then confirmed that “there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order” and said: “Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”

TikTok later said it had started restoring service on Sunday, thanking the president for clarifying to service providers “that they will face no penalties providing TikTok”.

It added: “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

Ahead of the ban coming into effect, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s plans to shut down the app a “stunt” and said actions enforcing the ban would “fall to the next administration”.

Mr Trump also indicated on Truth Social what a possible deal could look like, saying he would prefer the US “to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” with ByteDance or a new owner.

“Without US approval, there is no TikTok,” he said. “With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”

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Why was TikTok getting banned in the US?

On Saturday, the president-elect told NBC News‘ Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker that TikTok would “most likely” be given a 90-day pause from the ban to find a new owner.

Under the bipartisan law on TikTok – signed by Mr Biden – the president can grant a one-time extension of 90 days under three conditions:

• There is a path to divestiture of the app

• There is “significant progress” toward executing a sale

• There are in place “the relevant binding legal agreements to enable execution of such qualified divestiture during the period of such extension”

No legal agreements on the sale of TikTok to a non-Chinese owner have been made public, and Mr Trump did not say on Saturday if he was aware of any recent progress toward a sale.

CNBC later reported Perplexity AI made a bid for the app’s parent company on Saturday to allow it to merge with TikTok US and create a new entity, which would also include New Capital Partners.

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During his first term in the White House, Mr Trump attempted to ban TikTok as well as the Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat but was blocked by the courts. It was later revoked by Mr Biden.

Last year, he briefly met with the app’s chief executive Shou Zi Chew, who will attend the inauguration on Monday.

He’s expected to sit with fellow tech executives Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, a Trump transition official told NBC.

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Government ‘doesn’t think’ Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on UK – but is ‘prepared for all scenarios’

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Government 'doesn't think' Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on UK - but is 'prepared for all scenarios'

The government doesn’t think Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on the UK, but is “prepared for all scenarios”, a cabinet minister has said. 

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the former president’s return to the White House “could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities”.

Mr Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all imports into the United States, singling out Canada, Mexico, and China as countries that could face steeper measures within hours of his inauguration on Monday.

Asked what the government will do if that happens to the UK, Mr Jones said that was a “hypothetical” question and to wait and see “what actually happens”.

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“If that were to happen, I will come back and lay out the details for you. But the point is, is that I don’t think we’re going to be in that scenario,” Mr Jones said.

Darren Jones is asked the same quesion eight times by Kay Burley
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Darren Jones

He said there is a narrative in the UK that Mr Trump’s presidency poses “a big risk for Britain”, when this isn’t the case.

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“Britain is a brilliant country with huge capabilities and assets which are valued not just to the British people, but to the American economy and other parts of the world,” he said.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that under the Trump administration there are going to be plenty of opportunities that we can seize, and we should be positive about that and be strong about securing this deal.”

Mr Jones confirmed there is ultimately a plan if tariffs are imposed, but said it isn’t for him “to lay out the details in advance of something actually happening on TV”.

“It’s not breaking news that the government prepares for all scenarios,” he added.

“My broader point is that we shouldn’t be looking at president-elect Trump’s inauguration as a risk, or a bad thing for the UK. It could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities.”

President-elect Trump will be sworn in to a second term in office on Monday, following his election victory in November, and there have been concerns over what his pledged tariffs could mean for economies around the globe.

The former businessman has been clear he plans to pick up where he left off in 2021 by taxing goods coming into the country, making them more expensive, in a bid to protect US industry and jobs.

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UK ‘should pursue free trade deal’ with US

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, who is in Washington DC for the inauguration, said Mr Trump is “within his rights to make the statements that he wants around tariffs… but as ever this is a discussion and a negotiation”.

Priti Patel in Washington DC
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Priti Patel in Washington DC

She said the Labour government should resume her party’s talks over a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US and “not even enter into these discussions around tariffs”.

A trade deal with the US had been set as a priority in the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto but was not achieved by the time of the general election in July last year, which they lost.

Ms Patel went on to call Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a “pop-up act” and “not relevant” when asked if her party should make peace with him to get on well with Mr Trump, given the close relationship of the pair.

She said the Conservatives and Republicans are “sister parties” with “enduring, long-standing ties”.

“We’re not a pop-up act in the way in which they [Reform UK] are… so I don’t think that’s particularly relevant,” she said.

However, the Lib Dems accused the former home secretary of “competing with Reform to be most submissive toward Trump”.

Confidence in Mandelson’s appointment

Mr Trump’s inauguration has also caused a stir after reports in the Sunday papers suggested he could reject Lord Peter Mandelson as Sir Keir Starmer’s nomination for the UK’s ambassador to the US.

The Labour grandee has been critical of Mr Trump in the past, and was last month branded an “absolute moron” by a Trump campaigner.

Lord Mandelson. Pic: PA
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Lord Mandelson. Pic: PA

However Mr Jones signalled he was confident that the Blair-era minister would take up his position, telling Sky News he “doubts very much” the media reports are true.

“It’s probably being propagated by some politicians that would like to cause a bit of a nuisance. I doubt that will be the case.”

Govt ‘doesn’t agree’ with Khan’s Trump comments

Mr Jones was also forced to distance himself from comments made by Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Mr Khan has warned of a century-defining battle against “resurgent fascism”, writing in The Observer that “these are deeply worrying times, especially if you’re a member of a minority community”.

Mr Jones said he does not associate with that language and questions about it “are for Sadiq to answer.”

He later told the BBC: “I speak on behalf of the government and we don’t agree with it.”

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