Is ING Direct Regulated? Is it safe? - TU Expert review
License is the most important document you have to consider when choosing a broker. Many traders, who would like to start working with ING Direct try to check whether it is regulated. Traders Union experts have already done that. In this article, you will learn whether ING Direct is regulated, what regulatory authorities supervise the broker and whether it is safe to work with the company in general.
Short summary about the broker ING Direct
The ING Direct broker is a large international financial corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. It provides services in the banking sector, as well as to legal entities and corporate clients throughout Europe. America’s Fortune magazine ranked ING among the Top 20 largest global brokers. The main aspect of ING Direct's brokerage activity is trading in stock markets where clients can work independently or through investment funds.
💰 Account currency: | EUR |
---|---|
🚀 Minimum deposit: | From €0 |
⚖️ Leverage: | Up to 1:5 |
💱 Spread: | No |
🔧 Instruments: | Stocks, bonds, warrants, trackers, options, OTC securities |
💹 Margin Call / Stop Out: | No data |
Pros and cons of ING Direct
👍 Advantages of trading with ING Direct:
•High reputation and reliability of a large international bank.
•Availability of full-fledged training with the ability to use imitation of portfolio management on the stock exchange.
•No commission for storage, withdrawal of funds, replenishment, and maintenance of trading accounts.
👎 Disadvantages of ING Direct:
•Lack of opportunity to work in the Forex market.
•Limited range of trading instruments.
•Complies with the legal framework of the Eurozone.
•Complex procedure for opening an account to enter the stock exchange.
•Platform is in the French language only.
Why is it important to work with a regulated broker?
License is a document that certifies that a broker operates legally and guarantees fulfillment of its obligations to the traders. A financial license is issued by a financial regulatory authority of a country (the National Bank) or a specialized authority (for example, Securities Commission, Futures Trading Commission, etc.). It is important to choose licensed brokers for the following reasons:
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A license guarantees that the broker operates in compliance with the rules of the financial regulator that issued the document.
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In order to obtain the license, a broker must comply with certain requirements, for example, the size of the authorized capital or personnel qualification. It is simply not lucrative for scammers to comply with such requirements.
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A broker’s license provides access to real markets, and you can be sure that the quotes are real and up-to-date.
The best option is to work with a broker that holds the license of the jurisdiction, where the trader resides. You can also choose a company with a financial license of another reliable jurisdiction, for example, the U.S. or the European Union.
Is ING Direct Regulated? Broker’s license
Security (Protection for Investors)
The ING Direct broker is regulated following the Sapin II Act (a single regulation for brokerage in Europe) and the EU data protection regulation (2016/679).
The broker is registered with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce (No. 33031431) and the Paris Trade Register (No. 791 866 890).
👍 Advantages
- Client funds are held in bank accounts, separate from the broker's equity capital
- The company guarantees the safety of clients' funds and the safety of trades
- An independent arbitrator is involved to resolve disputes
👎 Disadvantages
- The need to comply with all terms of transactions
- Certain specificity of the European Union legislation concerning trades with financial assets and taxation
- Confidentiality may be breached under traders' contracts if required to verify compliance with the law
Brokerage fees
Broker’s regulation is the most important choice criterion. However, before you start working with the broker, it is also important to analyze its commissions and fees. TU analysts have studied the commissions and fees charged by ING Direct, which you can see below.
The experts at the Traders Union inspected ING Direct's trading conditions for explicit and implicit fees. Commissions for depositing and withdrawing funds, as well as for servicing traders' accounts are not charged. There are some paid options, but they relate to the expansion of the way you receive notifications and the frequency of reporting. The brokerage fee varies from 0.1 to 0.6% of the total trade amount and applies only to orders for the purchase and sale of securities.
Account type | Spread (minimum value) | Withdrawal commission |
Accounts for trading on stock exchanges | From €1.5 | No |
Several types of investment accounts such as REA and REA-PME | % established by the management company of a specific fund | No |
Brokers that are similar to ING Direct
Many brokers operate legally, obtaining relevant licenses and permissions. However, when choosing a broker, it is important to compare their trading conditions. TU experts have prepared a comparative analysis of ING Direct conditions with its closest competitors.
Comparison of ING Direct with other Brokers
ING Direct | RoboForex | Pocket Option | Exness | Vantage Markets | FreshForex | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trading platform |
Proprietary terminal |
MT4, MT5, R MobileTrader, R StocksTrader, R WebTrader |
Pocket Option, MT5, MT4 |
Exness Trade App (mobile), Exness Terminal (web), MetaTrader5, MetaTrader4 |
MT4, MT5, WebTrader, Mobile Apps |
MT4, MobileTrading |
Min deposit |
$1 |
$10 |
$5 |
$10 |
$50 |
No |
Leverage |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
From 1:1 |
Trust management |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Accrual of % on the balance |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Spread |
From 0 points |
From 0 points |
From 1.2 point |
From 1 point |
From 0 points |
From 0 points |
Level of margin call / stop out |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Execution of orders |
Market Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
Market Execution |
Market Execution, Instant Execution |
No deposit bonus |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
$30 |
Cent accounts |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
ING Direct is a good option for investors or large companies with accounts abroad. It is suitable for experienced traders with sufficient capital to trade in volume in the securities market.
The minimum deposit in RoboForex is $10. Leverage up to 1:2000. Traders choose RoboForex for reliability, favorable trading conditions, minimum spreads, and commission fees. The company is recommended for beginner traders and experienced investors.
Pocket Option offers a wide range of trading instruments and copy trading services. It constantly improves its service quality and expands the list of assets and trading platforms. The broker is suitable even for novice traders without significant capital due to the low initial deposit. Experienced traders who work with CFDs and binary options can also use Pocket Option’s services.
Exness broker is a trusted broker partner that is compliant with all relevant terms. Exness complies with all payment obligations and pays money earned.
Vantage Markets is a broker that is a real catch for traders who prefer ECN trading.
FreshForex is a reliable Forex broker providing a standard set of trading tools. The company is a good option for traders of all levels, from beginner to professional traders. It is mid-range in terms of size and number of registered traders and they are reliable based on our research and analysis.
Conclusions
ING Direct is a quite reliable broker for trading. ING Direct operates on the license of a reliable jurisdiction and its operation is regularly monitored. However, the company does not offer the best trading conditions compared to competitors. You can choose this broker and not worry about the safety of your funds, but there are better options in terms of trading conditions.
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FAQ
How difficult is it to obtain a brokerage license?
The procedure for obtaining a license differs depending on the jurisdiction, but it is very difficult and expensive to get the document in a reliable jurisdiction. This is why only reliable brokers obtain licenses.
Why is it not recommended to work with offshore brokers?
Offshore brokers have to meet minimum requirements for obtaining a license and reporting, which is why often scammers get such licenses.
Can an offshore broker be reliable?
Yes, although there are not many of such brokers. There are brokers with a good reputation, but with an offshore license. You still need to be very cautious when working with such companies.
How do I check a broker’s reputation?
In order to check a broker’s reputation, you need to read user reviews. However, it is recommended to only use independent websites for that.
Team that worked on the article
Mikhail Vnuchkov joined Traders Union as an author in 2020. He began his professional career as a journalist-observer at a small online financial publication, where he covered global economic events and discussed their impact on the segment of financial investment, including investor income. With five years of experience in finance, Mikhail joined Traders Union team, where he is in charge of forming the pool of latest news for traders, who trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, Forex instruments and fixed income.
Olga Shendetskaya has been a part of the Traders Union team as an author, editor and proofreader since 2017. Since 2020, Shendetskaya has been the assistant chief editor of the website of Traders Union, an international association of traders. She has over 10 years of experience of working with economic and financial texts. In the period of 2017-2020, Olga has worked as a journalist and editor of laftNews news agency, economic and financial news sections. At the moment, Olga is a part of the team of top industry experts involved in creation of educational articles in finance and investment, overseeing their writing and publication on the Traders Union website.