Low cost European broker Lightyear taps LHV for EUR instant payments
Lightyear has recently raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sir Richard Branson to fuel its expansion into 19 new European countries. The neobroker is quickly growing across the old continent by charging no trading, account and custody fees and charging a 0.35% fee for FX.
Lightyear, the European investment platform founded by ex-Wise duo Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, has partnered with LHV to adopt SEPA and SEPA Instant payments, as well as EUR safeguarding accounts, which separate client funds from the company’s.
The banking services provider, which caters to over 200 fintech and crypto companies, will also provide EU operational accounts, designed to hold businesses’ operating funds, international SWIFT and payments in EEA currencies alongside virtual IBANs.
Lightyear lowers transaction, custody, and FX fees for European investors
Lightyear’s recent pan-European launch was powered by this partnership, which provides real-time EUR payments and other banking capabilities to the European investment platform. According to LVH, the payments firm has processed 8% of the total Single Euro Payments Area (‘SEPA’) Instant transactions in Europe.
Lightyear aims to offer low-cost access to global markets for residents in the European Union, which means lowering transaction and custody fees as well as hidden FX fees for international markets for customers.
Lightyear has recently raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sir Richard Branson to fuel its expansion into 19 new European countries.
The neobroker is quickly growing across the old continent by charging no trading, account and custody fees and charging a 0.35% fee for FX.
Andres Kitter, Chief Executive Officer of LHV UK, said: “Lightyear is democratising access investing to retail traders. By utilising Lightyear’s commission-free investment platform, investors can bypass the traditional banks and web platforms, which charge high fees for stock trading.”
Mihkel Aamer, Co-founder and CTO at Lightyear, said: ”LHV is partnering with fintechs to innovate and build a better financial system for customers in Estonia and now across Europe. We share a similar approach to providing best-in-class customer experience — when it comes to payments and people’s money, it’s key to eliminate unnecessary delays & slow processing times. We’re excited to join forces with LHV to bring real-time EUR payments to investors across Europe.”
Lightyear launched UK and European stocks and ETFs
Last month, Lightyear added global ETFs and a wide range of instruments from UK and European exchanges to its product offering in a milestone for the European investment platform.
The new product offering will include a huge selection of popular local and global stocks listed on exchanges all over Europe including the London Stock Exchange, Euronext and the DAX.
The rollout of ETFs also marks the company’s expansion into fund-based products, which are widely considered a good way to diversify a portfolio and a good entry point for newer investors, combining the benefits of diversified mutual funds with real-time pricing, but without high barriers to entry or minimum investment amounts.
An ETF – a short for Exchange Traded Fund – is a collection of hundreds or thousands of stocks or bonds, which is managed by experts in a single fund that trades on major stock exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
