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Barclays Smart Investor Review

Item: Barclays
Rating: 4

Written by Elizabeth Anderson
Fact-checked by Steven Hatzakis
Edited by Carolyn Kimball

December 19, 2024

Your capital is at risk.

Barclays Smart Investor is an investment platform offered by Barclays Bank that, like many other DIY platforms, offers an excellent range of investments and accounts. Unfortunately, I found it complicated to open an account as a non-Barclays bank customer, and you can’t buy or sell investments through the app if you don’t have a Barclays bank account. If you can get past that, Barclays is good value whether you are a beginner investor or have a large portfolio as its fees are, overall, very low.

Overall

Minimum Deposit: £0
ISA: Yes
SIPP: Yes

Barclays Smart Investor pros & cons

thumb_up_off_alt Pros

Low fees: No trading fees for regular investing.
Wide range of investments, including mutual funds and bonds.
Great research tools for comparing stocks and funds.
Low platform fees of 0.25% up to £200,000 and 0.05% beyond.

thumb_down_off_alt Cons

Financial advice only available to those with above £500,000.
Time-consuming to open an account if you are not already a Barclays Bank customer.
Limited mobile app options if you do not have a Barclays bank account.
You cannot buy fractional shares.

Overall summary

Feature	Barclays
Overall Rating
Charges & Fees
Investment Choices
Mobile App
Website
Ease of Use
Education

Charges and fees

Barclays Smart Investor overhauled its fee structure in 2024 and its platform is currently a very good value. It has ditched its £4 a month minimum fee and now just charges a percentage platform fee of 0.25% for investments worth up to £200,000 and 0.05% on amounts beyond this.

Regular dealing: Barclays also dropped its £1 fee for regular dealing, and it’s now free to trade if you buy the same investment each month. Trading fees have also been dropped if you invest in a mutual fund.

Share dealing: When it comes to buying and selling shares, you’ll pay £6 per trade on U.K. and international shares, which is on the higher end. But as mentioned, if you sign up for regular investing, you’ll pay no trading fees at all. Barclays therefore offers extremely good value to regular investors who can pay in amounts of at least £50 a month.

Cost comparisons: As an example of how Barclays compares to other brokers on costs, if you hold £49,999 in mutual funds with Barclays and trade four times a year, you’ll pay platform charges of £125 a year with Barclays Smart Investor. This compares to £225 with Hargreaves Lansdown and £75.84 with Interactive Investor. Bear in mind that you’ll also pay management fees charged by the fund you invest in on top of broker platform charges.

If you hold £49,999 worth of shares or ETFs with Barclays and do regular investing, total fees would come in at £125 a year. This is good value compared to a few other traditional platforms, although not the cheapest in its class. With Interactive Investor you’d pay £59.88, while Hargreaves Lansdown is even cheaper at £45 if investing through an ISA. You’d pay nothing if investing through an ISA with a commission-free broker such as Trading 212 or XTB.

Scenario pricing: When calculating annual share dealing costs, trading frequency and account balance are the two most important factors to consider. Assuming a £30,000 portfolio in a traditional, taxable share dealing account, here are five scenarios of how much Barclays would cost based on trade frequency:

5 trades per year = £105
12 trades per year = £75 or £147
36 trades per year = £75 or £291
120 trades per year = £75 or £795
3 fund trades per year = £75

Feature	Barclays
Minimum Deposit info	£0
Share Trading: 0-9 Deals/ Month info	£6
Share Trading: 10-19 Deals/ Month info	£6
Share Trading: 20+ Deals/ Month info	£6
Annual Custody Fee: £0 - £250,000 info	£0 - £525
Annual Custody Fee: £250K-£500K info	£525 - £650
Annual Custody Fee: £500,000 - £1m info	£650 - £850
Annual Custody Fee: £1m and over info	£850 and up
Bonds - Corporate - Fee info	£6
Bonds - Government (Gilts) - Fee info	£6
ETFs - Fee info	£6
Investment Trusts - Fee info	£6
Telephone Dealing Fee info	£25

query_stats What type of trader are you?

New to the world of investing? See my picks for the best UK trading platforms for beginners. More experienced traders should check out my guide to the best UK Trading Platforms for Active Traders. If you're looking to trade shares on the go, read my guide to the best UK stock trading apps.

Mobile trading apps

I found it quite difficult to log in to the Barclays Smart Investor app for the first time. You need to register to use the app which requires both an account number and a membership number — and those are sent in the post. There are quite a lot of numbers and passwords to remember. It is probably much easier if you already bank with Barclays and have registered for online access to your accounts.

When I tested the app, I found it prone to glitches and error messages when I tried to fund my account. I also found it difficult to search stocks or find market information, even after putting money in my investment account. I tried to open a current account to use the app fully, but could not do this through my investing account on the app or website.

A big downside is that customers who don’t have a Barclays current account can only view their investments, not trade, via the app. In the meantime, you will have to manage your investments on the website or open a Barclays bank account.

Overall, I found the Barclays mobile app not to be a great user experience.

Website

The Barclays Smart Wealth site is very comprehensive. Once you're logged into your account, you can easily find investments, view news and research, and manage and open an account.

It’s easy to search for a stock or fund at the top right of your account. When selecting an investment, such as a stock, you can see a chart of historical performance up to five years. You can also compare how this stock has performed compared to several indices including the FTSE 100 and S&P 500.

One drawback is that you can’t make comparisons to other companies or indices on the chart when viewing a stock, which is a useful feature offered by many other platforms. However, you can see recent share price performance by similar companies in the sector in table form.

Prices are delayed by 15 minutes. Live prices are available only by paying to access Active Trader, run by external provider Web Financial Group (WFG). You’ll also get access to more charting tools and can create a watch list, which doesn’t appear to be an option through the Smart Investor platform. You have to open a separate account with Web Financial Group to access the Active Trader platform, as you cannot log in through Barclays Smart Investor.

Barclays website Smart Investor Research Centre

A stock chart of Tesla share prices on the Barclays website.

Chart comparing BP stock to the FTSE 100 index on the Barclays website.

A trade ticket showing purchase costs on the Barclays website.

Top 10 most popular shares on the Barclays website.

Barclays website FTSE 100 vs stock comparison chart

Barclays website Smart Investor international markets

Feature	Barclays
Web Platform info	Yes
iPhone App info	Yes
Android App info	Yes
Stock Alerts info	Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies info	0
Charting - Drawing Tools info	0
Charting - Notes info	No
Charting - Display Corporate Events info	No
Charting - Stock Overlays info	No
Charting - Index Overlays info	No

Investment choices

There is a very wide range of investment choices through Barclays Smart Wealth. The platform offers more than 2,000 mutual funds, 4,000 stocks, 1,278 ETFs, and more than 100 gilts and bonds. You can invest in companies listed on 10 stock exchanges overseas, including ones in the U.S., France, Germany, Sweden, and Canada.

If you’re a beginner, it can be difficult to get started when there are so many choices. Fortunately, the provided Barclays Funds List helps narrow down the funds available. The list includes different types of active and passive funds that Barclays believes are key to achieving a diverse portfolio.

Ready-made investments: Barclays also offers ready-made investments — a diversified portfolio already put together that you can simply buy into. You have the choice of five funds depending on how much risk you want to take. Higher risk can mean the chance of greater returns in the long run, but there are never any guarantees with investing and the value of the fund can go down as well as up. The funds have an ongoing charge of 0.45% a year, on top of the 0.25% platform fee, with no trading fees.

On a portfolio of £30,000, you’d pay total annual fees of £210 for Barclays' ready-made investments. In comparison, other platforms like Lloyds would charge £105 a year for £30,000 invested in one of its ready-made funds (excluding transaction costs of 0.11%). AJ Bell would charge £168.

Financial advice: Barclays offers financial advice, but only for those with investable assets above £500,000. This is handled by Barclays Wealth and is not covered under the Smart Investor brand.

Feature	Barclays
Share Trading info	Yes
CFD Trading info	No
ETFs info	Yes
Funds info	Yes
Bonds - Corporate info	Yes
Bonds - Government (Gilts) info	Yes
Investment Trusts info	Yes
Spread Betting info	No
Crypto Trading info	No
Advisor Services info	Yes

Education

Barclays’ research centre is very good, offering a wide range of tools and resources to help inform your investment decisions. You can see the risers and fallers for both the top funds and the top sectors as well as the companies offering the highest dividend yields. There is also extensive research and data on global stock markets. A podcast called Word on the Street, featuring investment insights and discussing topics such as "Where next for interest rates?", is released each week.

Overall, Barclays offers useful information for both beginner investors and those who are more experienced. The research centre is particularly strong, giving access to comprehensive market data and news.

Feature	Barclays
Education (Share Trading) info	Yes
Education (Funds) info	Yes
Education (Retirement) info	Yes
Client Webinars info	No
Client Webinars (Archived) info	No

Final thoughts

Barclays offers a very good service for investors both at the start of their investment journey and those with large portfolios. There is a wide range of investment options and you can save through an ISA, general dealing account, or SIPP.

Charges are on the low side at 0.25% for platform fees, with no fees for regular dealing and free trades for mutual funds. However, you may find better value platforms if you have a very large portfolio and like flat fees, or are looking for a ready-made investment fund.

About Barclays

Barclays dates back to 1690, when two goldsmith bankers set up their own firm. The company was eventually christened Barclays and is now a major global financial services provider, listed on the London and New York stock exchanges. Barclays offers current accounts, savings, credit cards, mortgages, investments and wealth management.

Is Barclays Smart Investor worth it?

Yes, it can be worth opening an account if you are an investor focusing on long-term saving and have a decent investment portfolio. Barclays Smart Investor is a solid investment platform that does not charge high fees and has a wide range of account options and investments. You’ll get the best experience if you already have a current account with Barclays. If you don’t, there are other platforms that are easier to use, such as Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor, Vanguard, or Trading 212.

Is Barclays Smart Investor safe?

Yes, Barclays Smart Investor is very safe. The Barclays name has been around for centuries and like all financial services firms it must adhere to strict conditions set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Who is eligible for Barclays Smart Investor?

Anyone in the U.K. is eligible for Barclays Smart Investor. It’s easy to set up a general dealing account and you don’t need to hold a Barclays bank account to open an investment account, although account set-up may go more smoothly for those who are already a Barclays bank customer.

What are Barclays Smart Investor’s fees?

Barclays Smart Investor charges £6 per trade for stocks, ETFs, and bonds, and no fees for buying or selling mutual funds. It also charges platform fees of 0.25% a year. If you do regular trading, there are no fees for trading stocks or ETFs.

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Methodology

For the UK.StockBrokers.com Annual Review, we assessed, rated, and ranked 17 U.K. share dealing platforms over a 10-week time period. Each broker’s platforms and features were exhaustively tested by hand and graded on 53 different variables. In total, over 25,000 words of research were produced.

We thoroughly tested and compared features of prime interest to everyday investors, including but not limited to:

Investment choices, such as whether the broker offers trading of shares, ETFs, funds, bonds, and CFDs; and offers SIPP and ISA accounts.
The broker’s charges and fees for investing.
Functionality and design of mobile apps and website platform, and a fluid experience moving between app and web.
Usability of tools such as charting and watch lists.
Market research, such as screening, news and analysis.
Educational resources including tutorials, online courses, videos, webinars and articles.

Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Our lead researcher and writer, Elizabeth Anderson, has more than a decade’s experience as a financial journalist and market researcher. Elizabeth’s expertise is backed by a team of veteran fellow traders, data auditors, editors and project managers who work to ensure that UK.StockBrokers.com reviews and guides are the most unbiased and complete in the industry. Read more about our team.

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About the Editorial Team

Elizabeth Anderson, lead writer and researcher, has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. In addition to her work with UK.StockBrokers.com, she has written extensively for major publications including BBC, The Times and Bloomberg. A keen investor herself, she is passionate about helping people understand finance and investing.

Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for UK.StockBrokers.com and 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.

Carolyn Kimball is a former managing editor for Reink Media and former lead editor for the StockBrokers.com Annual Review. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.