FinecoBank Review
FinecoBank is a trusted multi-asset broker offering forex and CFDs across its brands regulated in the U.K. and Italy. However, unless you visit a physical branch as a citizen of the EU – or you are a resident of Italy or the U.K. – you will not be permitted to open an online account with FinecoBank.
- Minimum Deposit: $0.00
- Stock Trade Fee: $0.00
- Options (Per Contract): $0.00
Fineco pros & cons
Pros
- Regulated as a bank and publicly traded on the Italian stock market (BIT: FTK).
- Member of the National Compensation Fund and the National Interbank Deposit Guarantee Fund in Italy.
- Knock-out options are available, along with guaranteed stop-loss orders (GSLOs).
- Competitive pricing on index CFDs.
- Offers a good selection of funds as an investment option.
- Holds EUR 101.4 billion in assets as of June 30, 2021.
Cons
- English speakers will find a shortage of research and education content.
- Educational content and research material are unorganized.
- Offers a very narrow range of CFDs – only 126 are currently available.
- Max position limited to 99 standard lots on EUR/USD.
- Demo/virtual accounts are not available.
- Must be a resident of Italy or the U.K. to open an account online.
- EU residents must be present at a physical branch to open an account.
Overall Summary
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Overall | |
| Trust Score | 92 |
| Offering of Investments | |
| Commissions & Fees | |
| Platforms & Tools | |
| Research | |
| Mobile Trading Apps | |
| Education |
Is FinecoBank safe?
FinecoBank is considered low-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 92 out of 99. FinecoBank is publicly traded and does operate a bank. FinecoBank is authorized by one tier-1 regulator (high trust), zero tier-2 regulators (average trust), and zero tier-3 regulators (low trust). FinecoBank is authorised by the following tier-1 regulator: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score.
Regulations comparison
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1999 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes |
| Bank | Yes |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 0 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 |
| Trust Score | 92 |
Offering of investments
FinecoBank offers 54 forex pairs and 126 CFDs across indices, bonds, commodities, and popular shares, along with access to non-CFD share trading on international and US exchanges.
Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrency trading is not available at any FinecoBank entity.
Investors in the U.K. can find further detail about Fineco’s U.K. offerings in the FinecoBank review on our sister site, StockBrokers.com U.K.
FinecoBank offering of investments:
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Forex Trading | Yes |
| CFD Trading | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 126 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 54 |
| US Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | No |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No |
| Cryptocurrency (CFD) | No |
| Crypto Disclaimer (UK) | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
Commissions and fees
Fineco does not publish average spread data for forex and CFD trading – making it difficult to assess its true trading costs.
Fineco lists a spread of 1 pip for the EUR/USD, which – even if an average value – is higher than the typical spread offered by forex brokers. Fineco also lists a spread of 0.8 pips, but neither of these spreads are listed as an average value, and no corresponding date range has been provided. That said, it’s worth noting that Fineco appears to offer lower spreads on its index CFDs.
Gallery
FinecoBank pricing summary:
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | N/A |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | N/A |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | No |
| Execution: Agency Broker | No |
| Execution: Market Maker | No |
Mobile trading apps
FinecoBank offers a proprietary mobile app for Android and iOS devices. The online account application is only available to residents of the U.K. and Italy, however, so I was unable to run any tests on Fineco’s mobile app – and a functioning demo account is not available. To learn more about the brokers with the best mobile trading apps, read our mobile trading guide.
FinecoBank mobile trading:
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Android App | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | No |
| Watch List | No |
| Watch List Syncing | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies | N/A |
| Charting - Draw Trendlines | No |
| Charting - Trendlines Moveable | No |
| Charting - Multiple Time Frames | No |
| Charting - Drawings Autosave | No |
| Forex Calendar | No |
Other trading platforms
Fineco offers a trading platform for web and desktop called PowerDesk. The geolocational restrictions (and lack of demo account availability) at Fineco meant that it was impossible for me to install the PowerDesk trading platform. I was granted limited access to the web platform, where I was able to obtain screenshots of the client dashboard. While the Fineco web platform has a rich variety of features, its functionality reminded me of legacy platforms – and would benefit from a modern upgrade to improve its ease of use.
Platforms overview: Fineco delivers a wide range of markets through its web platform. By bringing banking and investing together under one roof, Fineco has made it easy for traders to access everything they need – including forex, CFDs, and funds.
Gallery
FinecoBank trading platform:
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | No |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | No |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | No |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No |
| cTrader | No |
| DupliTrade | No |
| ZuluTrade | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 90 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | N/A |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | No |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | |
| Order Type - Market | No |
Research
Given the caveat that I was unable to test much of FinecoBank’s trading platform features, I nevertheless felt that the research features were underwhelming. FinecoBank’s newsroom section does host an assortment of articles that I found to be decent, including its Market Theme series.
Research overview: Research consists of articles, videos, and other content found in FinecoBank’s platform suite.
Market news and analysis: Fineco’s Market Theme series of articles is a reasonably helpful blend of investor education and time-sensitive market information. However, the time-sensitive quality of some of the content means it can quickly become outdated. Daily market commentary was absent from Fineco’s platform offering altogether.
Gallery
FinecoBank research:
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | No |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes |
| Autochartist | No |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No |
| Delkos Research | No |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | No |
| Economic Calendar | No |
Education
FinecoBank’s webinars, videos and articles are a good foundation for future improvement, but its run-of-the-mill educational content can’t compete with the best brokers in the industry.
Learning center: FinecoBank provides a video library for both its English (U.K.) and Italian (IT and EN) websites, where there are dozens of videos grouped by theme. I found some of the English content to be good quality, including some archived webinars on FinecoBank’s YouTube channel.
Fineco’s daily webinars cover investing and trading themes, and also include live trading events. The website hosts a mix of research and educational articles in its newsroom section. Overall, FinecoBank’s educational offering left me wanting more.
Room for improvement: Adding the ability to filter material by experience level would enhance the platform’s educational content. I’d also like to see a general expansion of the topics and themes covered in this section. Some of the best brokers offer lesson programs, complete with quizzes and progress tracking – features that are currently absent at FinecoBank.
Gallery
FinecoBank education:
| Feature | Fineco |
|---|---|
| Has Education - Forex or CFDs | Yes |
| Client Webinars | Yes |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes |
Final thoughts
If you reside in Italy, FinecoBank is an excellent choice for all things banking and brokerage, with forex and CFDs offered alongside popular global stock markets.
Likewise, if you are a U.K. resident, FinecoBank’s offering of investments competes fairly well with the best U.K. brokers. Though you can trade a wide variety of securities at FinecoBank, its range of CFDs is narrow, and its research and educational content doesn’t match up with industry leaders.
For those traders residing outside the U.K. or Italy, please note that you won’t be able to open a live account with Fineco.
About FinecoBank
FinecoBank holds 101.4 billion in total assets and services 1.4 million clients as of June 30, 2021, and is publicly traded on the Italian stock exchange Borsa Italiana (BIT) under the ticker symbol FBK. Launched in 1999, FinecoBank was part of the UniCredit banking group until 2019 when it became a fully independent company and member of the FTSE MIB (Milano Indice di Borsa), representing the 40 most-traded stock classes in Italy.
2022 Review Methodology
For our 2022 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 39 international forex brokers over a three-month time period resulting in over 50,000 words of published research.
Each broker was graded on 113 different variables, including our proprietary Trust Score algorithm. This innovative scoring system ranks the level of trustworthiness for each broker based on factors such as licenses, regulation and corporate structure. Read about Trust Score here.
As part of our annual review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy.
Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .1% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.
Forex Risk Disclaimer
There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses.Read more on forex trading risks.
About the Author
Steven Hatzakis Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
