Response to a video about Trading 212

Hey at least no one is suggesting Pizza Hut!

Plus, just checked, no Ā£2 charge for me - I must be a preferential customer :rofl:

We won. As he was able to convince you to see. :slight_smile:

After also seeing, itā€™s just a bunch empty personal opinions without any proofs or any sources. He creates a scenario, speculating, with confirmation-bias (e.g. the new directors, only EU onboarding).

My opinion about the financial statements delay, the new directorsā€™ appointments in T212 UK, the EU onboarding and not UK onboarding, could be somehow easy to explain without creating conspiracy theories.

The fact, this year the Brexit has happened. As other financial institutions (FI) (e.g. Revolut, Transferwise/Wise), they have created an EU-based entity for EU customers (the existing ones and the new ones). The other FI to anticipate this, created EU-based entities before the happening of the Brexit and started & finished the migration of EU customers before that event. As we all saw, T212 was late doing this, as EU customers are still in T212 UK.

The operational side of it was challenging, in short time, T212 had to create a new platform for EU customers, as it need to have a new legal entity based in an EU country. For example, Revolut went to Lithuania, Transferwise/Wise to Belgium. Add to this, the IT challenges, the regulatory challenges in a new country, regulatory challenges in UK, both entities and its assets must be segregated (ring-fenced). Donā€™t forget KYC/AML and other regulatory concerns (e.g. guarantee schemes) are different between countries, even more between UK and EU countries. Also the Brexit legal uncertainty, even today, delayed and caused disruption.

The new capital and directors, it seems just that, reinforcing and separation between UK and Cyprus platforms/entities, Itā€™s like a spin-off, that always needs changes in the old and new companies.

As result, the financial statements couldnā€™t been finished on time, so the existence of delays.

The priority to onboard only EU customers instead of UK, is because they are legally obliged by the Brexit, so the new UK customers become a business decision to wait, until all EU customers are out of T212 UK and in T212 Cyprus.

The existing T212 personnel were all/majority shifted to this emergency, and were also recruited new personnel to support the creation of all new T212 (Cyprus), the onboarding and the migration of customers (probably the main reason of no new features or big markets).

We can admit that T212 was late in preventing the Brexit and due to that, had to go in all hands on deck mode to put out the fire on short notice (new EU-based entity and EU customers integration).

Probably the new UK onboardings will only happen when the EU customers are all in T212 Cyprus or close to it, providing more breathing room to T212.

Of course, that T212 will not explain the reasons behind all this. Itā€™s a trade/business secret and specially private information, they arenā€™t obliged to communicate all the information to the public, as they are a private company, even listed companies donā€™t reveal all their private information.

Just my 2 cents. :slight_smile:

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Dedicating the Sasha song to Sasha

If he was a song it would be this

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And what an absolute banger it is

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Itā€™s like people have forgotten how long Trading212 has been around and itā€™s weird.

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Not everyone of course. But those who are, are way more vocal about it.
Personally, it doesnā€™t matter to me if the things he speculates about are true or not, it isnā€™t changing anything. If there was any risk about our assets the FCA would have stepped in immediately, they simply cannon risk their reputation.

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I donā€™t understand why lots of you criticising a YouTuber who pointed out something hardly any of us knew about it and its true. Iā€™m worried and thinking of closing all my positions and go somewhere else and Iā€™m sure quite few others are in similar situation. What I would like from some of you or T212 to tell us clearly that there is nothing to worry about and they are not in any trouble and our investments with them are safe. If anyone should be criticised its T212 who donā€™t keep their customers informed and upto date. Iā€™m genuinely worried and I want T212 to ensure us that everything is fine and we got nothing to worry about. Thank you

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They did. Earlier in this thread.

A few of us were aware about it (Iā€™ve checked the status of their accounts before it was even due, out of curiosity).

Nothing to worry about as far as Iā€™m concerned. The only ones who worry are the ones affected by the fear mongering Sasha tbh :person_shrugging:

If you genuinely feel distressed by the situation, by all means, do close out your account.
It is extremely unwise to invest without peace of mind, so regardless whether your fear is justified or silly, it should be addressed and you really shouldnā€™t put yourself through this stress.

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Donā€™t believe anything you see on YouTube. My 2 cents.

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Yes, never believe what you see on YouTube, but criticising him for pointing out something even before fact-checking or waiting for a response from Trading212 is silly too. This is what most people did after watching or reading the title of the video.

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I really appreciate your support. I like many others especially those who came into stock markets during the lockdowns have very little or no knowledge or financial backgrounds so we hugely rely on social media forums to learn about trading and investment in stock markets. I understand that people have channels on these platforms to make money but this doesnā€™t mean that they are all bad. If they highlight some issues with companies that are true then its down to those companies to come out and tell their customers if those concerns are true or false and also what they are doing to solve the issues. We should not go after the so called whistle-blowers or people are highlighting the facts. I like T212 because its very easy to use for newbies like me but this doesnā€™t mean that they donā€™t have any issues. Experience traders should come out and support us newbies in these difficult and confusing situations. Thank you :blush:

As for you Chantal, I donā€™t believe everything I see or hear on social media but when someone talking with facts you cannot ignore and you do want some answers. Hope you will agree this much. Thanks for your support.

In the case of Sasha, letā€™s just say he has a certain reputation around here.

Heā€™s quite known for his very clickbaity content, which times and times again is either plain false, or blown out of proportion, scaring new investors that donā€™t know better.

I have personally not seen this last video, and wonā€™t criticize him on it, and whilst it is true that T212 are late, it isnā€™t cause for much concerns.

As you mentioned already, most people here would not even know that accounts posting is a thing, let alone know that T212 would be late. But any excuse is good for Sasha to scare people.

Regarding your own situation, investing will always be on your own accord and decision. If it helps, you could voice your concerns to a financial professional, or try and make up your mind on your own.
If you feel like some competitors are available to you and seem more trustworthy, then go for it.
Having doubts on your investments is bad enough, brokerage doubts isnā€™t needed.

In my opinion, if you do look around at different solutions offered, you will quickly notice that not many can offer better service, but that would be for you to decide.

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@alizulfiqar Iā€™m sure itā€™s not a personal dig at you, and Iā€™d say the community here are fairly welcoming to new investors.

The only facts in the video really are that the accounts are late - this is a matter of public record, it happens, and is not really news. The whole premise of the video is ā€œTrading 212 are in trouble with the FCAā€, when in reality he presents absolutely zero actual hard evidence to support his claims. Itā€™s purely circumstantial.

I said it above, and I will say it again (and Iā€™d arrived at this conclusion months before that video was published) - my thoughts based on not knowing all the facts and knowing only what everyone else knows is that yeah, sure, the FCA have intervened for some reason and that is why new UK customers still cannot be accepted. HOWEVER, I am not worried because the fact a regulator may have gotten involved is not a sign that everything is going to shut down, more that they will have set out certain conditions Trading 212 must meet in order to start accepting new customers again, which Iā€™m sure they are working on. I donā€™t know the extent of the FCAā€™s powers, but I would imagine if they were that worried they may have gone further and prevented existing UK customers from depositing and investing any new money, which is not the case.

The more level headed of us may have had their own private thoughts on the matter, but are not creating YouTube videos making claims that cannot be backed up, because nobody that isnā€™t directly involved knows what all the facts really are. Weā€™re just waiting for those who do know, and have the power to do whatever is necessary, to do it so normal service can resume and all this can finally be put to bed.

You never know, when this is all over it might turn out that a family of rats made a critical piece of UK infrastructure their home and it exploded, and because of the chip shortage going on in the world they are having to wait months for a replacement. Is that completely ridiculous? Totally. But I present that suggestion as to what the underlying problem really is with as much evidence as Sasha presents his idea :man_shrugging:.

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The only reason he posted that video is for the views. He could asked @Team212 and he would have got an answer which makes his video not needed.

So I think he gets way too much attention and he is earning money with just scaring people.

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The video is pure speculation. He never says who his sources are. As far as we know it could Freddy Kruger and Jason coming in his dreams to tell him about 212 and then to promote their own trading platforms. Check his links he has up on his youtube. Dont be fooled people.

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@Tony.V Do you mind taking out 10 mins of your time to put out another message so this can be put to bed or would that be too much to ask for?

No doubt this wouldnā€™t be the last time you would be required to set the records straight so plan for it.

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Do we need/want 212 to respond to every Tom dick and Harry that makes a YouTube video with no facts to backup their views or claims? I would rather they concentrate on their day jobs / service enhancements.

Think of it this way. This blogger doesnā€™t have that many followers. If someone thought a broker was doing something odd, why not go to the papers or the FCA?

No one else is spreading this drivel. Stop watching it. The only reason people are watching it is because of a click bait title.

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I really despise the ā€œguilty until proven innocentā€ type of arguments. I totally agree with Dougal on this one. Itā€™s not T212 responsibility to clarify all the obscure assumptions. Iā€™m not saying everythingā€™s alright, but we need to step back, take a deep breath and say to ourselves ā€œthe world is not black or whiteā€.

I donā€™t want to jump on the epidemic downward spiral, but we can clearly see this kind of arguments being thrown everywhere all the time, hence the chaos.

Nevertheless, the T212 staff made a comment about this specific ā€œproblemā€ and if you (the sceptic reader) donā€™t think this is sufficient, well then the problem lies somewhere else.

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I watched it. Itā€™s just his theory and the upshot is ā€œI donā€™t think this is a good look for 212ā€. Hahaha. His only point really is that trading 212 might not have disclosed all the picture on why they stopped onboarding U.K. customers. Well guess whatā€¦They donā€™t have to! He even then goes on to kind of defeat his main point by pointing out that trading have appointed lots of U.K. directors recently, which would sort out any FcA requirements on that aspect. He also then says thatā€™s why the accounts are delayed so that they donā€™t have to disclose anything on that matter. Great! If that is the case and itā€™s sorted then I donā€™t care. With Brexit and ever increasing reg requirements then I am not surprised they needed to make some changes to operate across jurisdictions. Do people think the companies they use tell them everything? This is a company with FcA registration. Not some Mickey Mouse outfit. Do me a favour

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