Robinhood Launches in the UK, Pauses Margin Investing Services

The US-based stock trading company Robinhood launched brokerage services in the United Kingdom on Tuesday but suspended its plan to offer margin trading services to clients in the country.

Margin investing is a high-risk form of trading that allows customers to borrow money to make bigger trades. A page about margin investing on Robinhood's UK website said on Monday that the company would be able to offer the product in the UK due to a "regulatory exemption" and would charge 12% interest on the loan. However, the page was removed later that evening.

"Margin investing is paused as we continue to discuss with the regulator," a spokesperson for Robinhood said, without giving details or specifying the regulator.

Robinhood has made several previous attempts to enter the UK market. Due to its popularity among US retail investors during the 2021 meme stock trading frenzy, Robinhood abandoned its previous proposal to expand its business in the UK in 2020. In July of last year, the company announced plans to launch operations in the UK​ and officially entered the market in late November.

While margin trading services have been suspended, the brokerage firm will still be able to provide its British clients with trading services on more than 6,000 US-listed stocks and ADRs, and will waive several transaction fees and commissions.

Last week, Robinhood released its full-year 2023 financial results​, indicating a strong performance with a total revenue of $1.865 billion for the year, representing a 37% increase compared to the previous year.