The annual Financial Expert stockbroker awards were created to recognise outstanding achievement, innovation and growth in the UK stockbroking industry.

The Financial Expert stockbroker awards are judged and awarded via this permanent webpage, which updates each year to show the latest recipients of our awards in each of the categories. 

We focus on the UK industry, not least because most of our web visitors are from the UK, but also to counterbalance the volume of US-centric financial media which does not shine a light on the successes here in the United Kingdom. 

About Financial Expert

Financial-expert.co.uk is an online financial journalism company that traces its origins back to 2011, in the wake of the 2008 – 2011 financial crisis. Financial Expert produces content on a variety of investment topics: 

• Financial markets theory
• How to invest guides
• Stockbroker reviews
• Reviews of the best books

Learn more about Financial Expert.

The Financial Expert Stockbroker Awards – winners & nominees

Firms are listed as: Winner / Nominated

Best overall stockbroker

eToro – Winner

Hargeaves Lansdown

Interactive Investor

AJ Bell

Best stockbroker for funds

Hargreaves Lansdown – Winner

Barclays Smart Investor

AJ Bell

Interactive Investor

Best stockbroker for share dealing

eToro – Winner

Interactive Investor

AJ Bell

Freetrade

Best stockbroker for low fees 

eToro – Winner

Freetrade

Interactive Investor

AJ Bell

Best stockbroker for international trading

eToro – Winner

Freetrade

Interactive Investor

AJ Bell

Best stockbroker for large portfolios (£250k+)

interactive investor – Winner

AJ Bell

Fidelity International

eToro

We offer our hearty congratulations to eToro, Hargreaves Lansdown and interactive investor for their wins this year. We have updated our UK stockbroker comparison table to reflect their victories accordingly. 

The listings for these firms will now be adorned with a ‘Best overall broker’, ‘Best for funds’ and ‘Best for large pots’ badge respectively. This will draw attention to why we think these providers are best in class. 

Nomination and judging process

Nomination is an open process. We regularly re-review the largest and most notable stockbrokers each year, so we keep fully abreast of the changing composition of the leading stockbrokers in the industry. We combine written nomination suggestions with our editorial viewpoint to form a list of nominees for each category.

To refer a firm to us for consideration, simply send us an email with your nominated firm and the reasons for your nomination. There’s no need for a lengthy email, as we’ll perform our own research on the firm.

Who we consider for nomination

To qualify for nomination to ‘UK’ stockbroker categories:

• The firm must be fully authorised to conduct business in the UK. 

• Following Brexit, this must take the form of being registered with the Financial Conduct Authority and having adequate FCA permissions to carry on business as a stockbroker. We will not include firms operating through the temporary permissions regime.

To qualify for nomination to the broader ‘stockbroker’ categories:

• The firm must offer a wide selection of publicly traded instruments for sale, which at a minimum should include the shares of major companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange. 

• The firm must offer either a general investment account or a stocks & shares ISA to members of the public without other necessary conditions such as being an existing client of the firm for another service. 

• Securities can be held in a nominee account or directly in the client’s name

• The firm must be accepting new clients on the date the judging is concluded

To qualify for nomination to the ‘international’ broker categories:

• The firm must offer trading in a wide selection of securities listed on recognised exchanges based outside of the UK. This could include the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Euronext and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

• The firm does not need to offer open or close-ended mutual funds domiciled abroad

Inviting nomination suggestions for the next awards

During the course of the year please contact us and propose a stockbroker you believe should be nominated for a category. You’re permitted to suggest your own firm.

The next Financial Expert Stockbroker Awards will be announced at the end of the calendar year. 

Stockbroker reviews

If you’d like to learn more about some of the stockbrokers featured above, please explore our detailed online stockbroker reviews:

• eToro Review
• Hargreaves Lansdown review
• interactive investor review
• AJ Bell YouInvest review
• Dodl investing app review

In each review, we look at service functionality, fees & charges, the background of the firm and its wider reputation in the industry. It’s the full picture we’d want to know before investing with a stockbroker!