Question 1

How do you keep my money safe?

Accepted Answer

Trusting us with your money is not something we take for granted. Lightyear Europe AS is a licensed investment firm and as such is bound by strict regulatory obligations in how we handle and protect your assets.

Customer assets always sit separately to our own and are held by authorised custodians. There’s no way for creditors - in the unlikely event of anything happening to Lightyear - to get hold of the investments or cash that you hold with us.

Lightyear customers have their assets covered up to the amount of 20,000 EUR by the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund. Read more about this fund here. Your US securities are held with our partner Alpaca, who is FINRA regulated and a registered member of the SIPC. This means your US securities are protected up to the value of $500,000 should Alpaca fail. You can read more about this directly on the SIPC website.

Read more about how your assets are protected.

Question 2

Is Lightyear a bank?

Accepted Answer

Lightyear is not a bank. We’re an investment platform, so there are a couple of key differences. While we’re regulated by the same authorities as banks, the protection schemes are slightly different for investment platforms (see here). With regards to customer funds, we cannot use customer money in the same way a bank does by lending it out. You have instant access to your Lightyear assets because of this.

Question 3

Why are your fees so reasonable? How do you make enough money?

Accepted Answer

We couldn’t agree more - our fees are very reasonable. We’re one of the most competitively priced investment platforms on the market and that's how we like it. Low cost, transparent pricing is in our DNA. We charge small, but fair, execution fees and take a fee for both foreign exchange and interest payments. Building a sustainable business that’s here to serve customers in 10, 20 and 100 years is something that’s paramount.

Question 4

Do you offer interest?

Accepted Answer

Yes! There's two ways you can earn interest with Lightyear.

Savings – a separate balance on your Lightyear account – invests into BlackRock's money market funds and offers interest in three currencies, with same or next day liquidity. The current rates for Savings are 2.04% on EUR, 4.34% on GBP, and 4.34% on USD (APY).

Your uninvested cash will also earn interest — 0.50% on EUR, 2.50% on GBP and 3.00% on USD (APY). For more information, check out our pricing page.

Question 5

How easy is it to withdraw my money?

Accepted Answer

Easy. We ensure you always have access to your money and we’ve made the process pretty painless for when you need to withdraw. The transfer times depend on the payout method you’re using but never longer than a day or two. For GBP, EUR, and HUF, your funds typically arrive on the very same day. For USD, your funds typically arrive within two days.

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How do you keep my money safe?

Is Lightyear a bank?

Why are your fees so reasonable? How do you make enough money?

Do you offer interest?

How easy is it to withdraw my money?

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