What you actually own when you buy through DEGIRO
A price comparison stops at the commission. This page starts after it: whether the trade leaves you holding a security or a contract, whose name that security is registered in, and what the document flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, acting through its Dutch branch, trading as DEGIRO (Germany, BaFin and Bundesbank; branch supervised by AFM and DNB) publishes says becomes of it if the firm fails.
Which entity and which product this covers
Applies to flatexDEGIRO Bank SE through its Dutch branch, under the client agreement and investment services information published for Ireland, document version 20220830 — which still names the company flatexDEGIRO Bank AG, the form it held before converting to an SE; the broker's own help centre now writes SE, and that is the name used here. The custody arrangement is the one thing that sets this broker apart on this page: client instruments are held not by the broker but by separate Dutch foundations with no members or shareholders, which is what makes them bankruptcy-remote from DEGIRO. Within those vehicles the instruments are still held in omnibus accounts, pooled with other clients. Whether the broker sells contracts for difference on shares was not established: the words do not appear in the client agreement, the investment services information or the instrument catalogue, but no document denies such a product outright.
Do you own real shares when you buy through DEGIRO?
A real security — but not one registered in your name. flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, acting through its Dutch branch, trading as DEGIRO (Germany, BaFin and Bundesbank; branch supervised by AFM and DNB) holds client investments through a nominee or custodian, pooled in an omnibus account together with other clients. You are the beneficial owner: the shares are yours rather than the firm's, but they are not separately identifiable as yours in the register.
“DEGIRO uses SPVs to hold Money and other Financial Instruments for the Client. The SPVs are passive entities established as foundations (stichtingen) under the laws of the Netherlands. By using the SPVs, clients' positions in Financial Instruments are segregated from the capital of DEGIRO and will remain available for the clients of DEGIRO in the unlikely event DEGIRO becomes insolvent.”
What happens to your holdings if DEGIRO fails?
Here is what flatexDEGIRO Bank SE, acting through its Dutch branch, trading as DEGIRO (Germany, BaFin and Bundesbank; branch supervised by AFM and DNB) says in its own document, in its own words — including the part that qualifies it.
“DEGIRO holds Financial Instruments for you in such a way that they cannot be accessed by creditors of DEGIRO, even if DEGIRO would be declared bankrupt.”
The counterweight in the same document
“If there is a deficit in a certain currency or in a certain Financial Instrument, which DEGIRO and SPV holds for the account and risk of the clients of DEGIRO, then DEGIRO will be entitled to divide this deficit over all clients of DEGIRO for whose account such currency or Financial Instrument is or should be held, pro rata to the total position of such currency of Financial Instrument that should be held for each of them.”
Verified 2026-09-08 · Source document
Frequently asked questions
Do you own real shares when you buy through DEGIRO?
What happens to your holdings if DEGIRO fails?
How we verified this review
Every fact below is verified against primary sources. We refresh on a schedule and on reader feedback.