Insiders score
More info3.5out of 5
Lloyds Bank Share Dealing offers a stocks and shares ISA, general investment account, investment accounts specifically for 18-25 year olds, and a pension. Some products are available only for Lloyds banking customers while some are open to non-banking customers too.
31.7%
26.4%
31.7%
26.4%
Accounts
Lloyds Shares Dealing service offers its customers access to:
They're not under the Lloyds Share Dealing umbrella, but also through Lloyds Bank, it's possible to open a Cash ISA and Junior Cash ISA too.
The Lloyds stocks and shares ISA and ready-made personal pension SIPP are only available to existing Lloyds customers, but it's possible to open a general Share Dealing account without having a Lloyds bank account. You will not be able to invest in ready-made portfolios without being a Lloyds banking customer, however.
A stocks and shares ISA is a ‘tax wrapper' – that means your investment account has a layer of protection from taxes that apply to general investment accounts. There is no income tax or Capital Gains Tax to pay within an ISA, which is why general investing accounts are only usually recommended for those who have maxed out their annual ISA allowance.
The Lloyds ‘ready-made personal pension' is a SIPP. That means it's a type of pension designed to give you additional freedoms over how and where your retirement savings are invested. However, with this Lloyds product, there isn't a whole lot of choice – just two funds. As the name suggests, it's better suited to those who want a pension that's ready-made, built and managed for you, with as few decisions as possible.
If you want more choice than just two funds, check out our Best personal pension and SIPP list.
To open a SIPP with Lloyds, you'll need to have either:
Assets
Despite the name – Lloyds Share Dealing – the platform offers more than just shares. Current available assets include:
This is an impressive selection of funds and stocks – certainly one of the largest choices offered by any of the high street banks. You could still find more choice with an investment-only provider such as interactive investor or Saxo, but certainly a selection that will satisfy most ordinary investors.
These are only available to existing Lloyds banking customers, and there are just three ready-made solutions to choose from: cautious, balanced or progressive. You'll need to feel confident assessing your own risk profile and matching yourself to the right portfolio as there is no opportunity to get help with this as there is with Santander, BestInvest, or one of the robo-advisor apps for example. for example.
As well as being an existing customer, you'll also need £50 a month or £500 as a lump sum to take this option.
It's worth noting that just three ready-made portfolios isn't a huge range. If you feel none of the options align with your risk profile or goals, then it's wise to look elsewhere. interactive investors, Moneybox, Bestinvest, Nutmeg and AJ Bell offer wider selections of ready-made portfolios.
Lloyds Share Dealing makes the following charges:
Account fees
Lloyds applies a six-monthly administration charge of £20.00 every April and October.
There are a couple of groups of people who don't have to pay this, however: the charge is waived for Premier and Private Banking customers, and for 18-25 year olds.
Even if you're a customer that does still have to pay the admin fees, if you hold a large value portfolio, that flat £40 annual fee (equivalent) could represent excellent value. On a portfolio valued at £20,000, for example, that's the equivalent of a 0.20% percentage-based fee; that's lower than AJ Bell, Fidelity, Barclays and HSBC charge, for example.
Dealing fees
This where things can work out more pricey, however.
Dealing fees are:
Those dealing fees on UK shares are very high. There is a potential way around the cost, though. If you trade through the Lloyds Regular Investment Plan, dealing fees are waived altogether. This means setting up a plan to drip-feed money each month into your investment account, which may not be the right strategy for you, however.
A flat 1% of trade amount. While the £0 dealing fees for international shares seem very enticing, it's important to remember that 1% on currency exchange is pretty high. With free trades though, it may work out economical if your trades aren't large.
Here's how other platforms charge for FX:
Note that, unlike Lloyds, many other platforms reduce FX fees for larger transactions. Lloyds is not the worst offender we've found, though – Halifax has an even higher flat FX rate as you can see in the chart above.
Fund fees
These are levied by the fund provider, vary depending on the fund you chose and are paid directly from your investment. Fund fees can be found in each fund's accompanying Key Investor Information Document.
Ready-made portfolios
Fees for a ready-made solution are £3 per month plus ongoing fund fees and transactions costs that range from 0.32% for a Cautious portfolio, to 0.37% for a Progressive portfolio. That's fair but you could also find cheaper elsewhere as this chart shows:
SIPP costs
You’ll need to pay an annual account fee of 0.30% (or a minimum of £5 per month) plus an ongoing investment charge of up to 0.24%. What you pay will depend on how much you invest.
This is comparatively expensive, so shop around if you're after a
Lloyds doesn't charge for pension transfers, and they also don’t charge to top up or drawdown your pension.
Transfer costs
No charge.
Interest on uninvested cash
Lloyds does not pay customers interest on their uninvested cash, which is a bit cheeky as they receive it when you leave cash uninvested. They say they retain these interest payments to “develop our products & services”. If you plan on holding cash while you're weighing up options between trades, then shop around as this is a poor deal. The majority of Lloyds' competitors do pay interest on uninvested cash, as you can see here:
Comparing costs
If we look at how Lloyds compares to other high street banks for a stocks and shares ISA, Lloyds comes out as one of the cheapest in the cost example below, where we've imagined a customer who is only buying and selling US stocks. That's because Lloyds waives dealing fees on international stocks.
If you're an investor interested in UK-listed assets, however, those high dealing fees on UK stocks means Lloyds works out far more expensive. In this example, we've imagined you made one trade per month.
For an investor in funds, Lloyds can work out relatively good value. Especially if you're aged 18-25 or a Premier/Private banking customer:
So, among the high street banks, Lloyds does well. However, it isn't just other high street banks you should be making comparisons with. With so many investment platforms offering easy, fully-digital account-opening procedures, and excellent, competitive pricing, it's always worth going through a comparison page or two to weigh up your options from the whole of the market. Our Best ISA, Best investment platform and Best personal pension and SIPP pages provide quick results and will give you peace of mind that you're getting the best possible platform for your needs.
Yes, Lloyds Share Dealing is safe. Lloyds Banking Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The bank is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) meaning that you could be entitled to compensation of up to £85,000 in the unlikely event that Lloyds was so go out of business.
You'll pay a flat fee of £20 per six months for holding investments with Lloyds. That could work out as a cheap alternative to the percentage-based platforms if you have a large-value portfolio. Dealing fees on stocks, ETFs, bonds or funds will add to your costs if you intend to trade. Buying a selling funds costs just £1.50 per trade but UK shares cost £11.00 to buy or sell. That's far higher than most platforms charge. International shares don't incur trading fees but you'll pay a relatively high currency exchange fee instead. So, overall, Lloyds is expensive to trade stocks on, but not funds.
Lloyds waives its investing service fee for 18-25 year olds. However, you'll still need to pay dealing fees on UK trades, and FX fees on international trades so it won't be completely free. If you plan to buy and hold your assets though, and trade very infrequently, you could find it a very cheap way to invest.
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