DEGIRO

Is DEGIRO safe?

DEGIRO is a regulated European bank branch with a profitable listed parent, and your shares are held outside the bank in separate legal entities. On those basics it is safe. We score it 71/100, lower than Trading 212 or eToro, for three reasons: by default DEGIRO may lend out your shares, the compensation scheme behind it pays at most €20,000, and its record with the Dutch and German regulators is poor.

We found no case in which clients lost money as a result. The problems were in reporting, anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary controls and internal organisation.

Who is DEGIRO legally?

DEGIRO started as a Dutch investment firm, DEGIRO B.V., licensed by the AFM. After the German online broker flatex took it over, the business moved into flatexDEGIRO Bank, and today DEGIRO is the trading name of flatexDEGIRO Bank Dutch Branch. Its lead supervisor is Germany's BaFin; the AFM and De Nederlandsche Bank supervise the Dutch branch.

That has a side effect for UK clients. flatexDEGIRO Bank is not authorised by the FCA, and DEGIRO's UK website states that investors are not protected by the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary. UK clients rely on the German schemes like everyone else.

How DEGIRO holds your shares, and when it lends them

DEGIRO does not keep client securities on the bank's own books. They are held by Dutch foundations (stichtingen) whose only purpose is to hold client assets, so in a bank failure they are not available to its creditors. Uninvested cash is different: it is a normal deposit at flatexDEGIRO Bank, covered by the German deposit guaranteeDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary up to €100,000.

The catch is securities lending. DEGIRO's client agreement says that, unless you chose the "custody" option, signing up gives DEGIRO consent to borrow your securities. While shares are lent, they leave the foundation and the foundation instead has a claim on DEGIRO, backed by collateral of at least 104% of their value. The custody option, which ruled out lending, is not available to new clients. In normal times you will not notice any of this. In a failure, lent shares depend on that collateral being sufficient rather than on segregation, and the German investor compensation scheme pays only 90% of losses up to €20,000.

What you hold	Where it sits	Protection if something goes wrong
Shares and ETFs (not lent)	Dutch client foundations	Segregated; German investor scheme 90% up to €20,000
Shares lent by DEGIRO	Claim on DEGIRO plus 104% collateral	Collateral, then the same €20,000 scheme
Cash	Deposit at flatexDEGIRO Bank	German deposit guarantee, €100,000

Fines and the BaFin special representative

DEGIRO's record with regulators goes back almost a decade:

• 2017 and 2021, transaction reporting. The AFM fined DEGIRO in 2017 for not reporting transactions, and again in July 2021 (€700,000) for using the wrong reporting format for five weeks in 2019. A court cut the second fine to €85,000.
• 2018 order. The AFM ordered DEGIRO to improve its sound business operations. It did not fully comply on asset segregation and conflicts of interest, and forfeited €300,000.
• December 2021, money laundering. The AFM fined flatexDEGIRO Bank €2 million because DEGIRO had reported unusual transactions to the Dutch financial intelligence unitFinancial intelligence unitA national government agency that receives reports of suspicious transactions from banks and crypto firms and analyses them for money laundering.More in the glossary late or incorrectly. After appeals the final fine, set in June 2025, was €797,500.
• 2022–2024, BaFin. BaFin set extra capital requirements in September 2022. In February 2023 it fined the bank €1.05 million and ordered it to fix serious weaknesses in internal controls, regulatory reporting and money-laundering prevention, with a special representative monitoring the work. flatexDEGIRO said the representative's mandate ended on 30 September 2024 after BaFin was satisfied.

Financial strength

flatexDEGIRO SE is listed in Frankfurt and is growing and profitable. In 2025 revenue rose 17% to €560 million and net income 44% to €160 million. In the second quarter of 2026 net income reached €61 million, and assets under custody passed €100 billion for the first time, reaching €108.3 billion at the end of June across 3.66 million customer accounts. The results releases do not give a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary, so we rely on the profits and BaFin's oversight rather than a published capital number.

How to stay safe on DEGIRO

1. Turn on two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary in your account settings; it is not on by default.
2. Ignore emails and texts that ask you to log in through a link or "verify" your account; type the address yourself.
3. If you have more than €100,000 in cash at flatexDEGIRO Bank across DEGIRO and flatex, you are above the deposit guaranteeDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary.
4. Read the securities lending section of the client agreement so you know what you agreed to.

How we scored it

Regulation (85) is DEGIRO's strongest factor, with BaFin as lead supervisor of a licensed bank. Conduct (50) is the weakest, after repeated fines in the Netherlands and Germany and two years under a BaFin special representative. Investor protection (65) loses points for default securities lending and the €20,000 compensation limit.