US app-based online trading broker Public.com is ending its efforts to expand into the UK market.
Although the company has not made an official announcement on the matter, the London news website City AM reports that Public.com has sent an email to its registered UK users (seen by City AM) that the company is suspending its UK operations from 3 May 2024.
All UK Public.com accounts will apparently be closed after April 2024.
A spokesperson for Public.com told City AM,
“With even more accelerated growth in the U.S., especially from recent feature releases like a five percent high-yield account, corporate bonds and options trading, we’ve decided it’s best to focus on U.S. businesses for now.”
In late 2022, Public.com said it planned to expand internationally in 2023, with the company following through and announcing last July that its trading and investment platform was now available in the UK, the company’s first step outside of the USA. At the time, Public.com co-CEO and co-founder Leif Abraham stated that,
“London and the wider UK market has always been the financial center of Europe, so it is a natural place for Public to begin our international expansion. Public has always had European roots: my co-founder and I are both European and have a team in several European countries, including the UK. We’re excited that now it won’t just be the team in Europe and the UK, but the members we serve.”
Public.com established its UK entity Public Investing UK Limited in late 2021 and the firm was authorized by the FCA as an Appointed Agent in October 2022, without a full brokerage licence. Public.com UK was created to act as an appointed representative of FCA regulated Khepri Advisors Limited.
Public.com’s move comes on the heels of US rival Robinhood launching in the UK last November, following a failed attempt a few years earlier to take its first steps overseas. Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) has also since added cryptocurrency trading in the EU, and is also staffed in Canada.