Binck introduces own turbo in Belgium despite looming speculation tax

BinckBank has introduced its own turbo in the Belgium market. With the launch of the Binck turbo the Dutch online broker said it is aiming to capitalise on the increasing demands among experienced active Belgian customers. Turbos are well present in the portfolio of active and experienced investors, said Stefaan Roegiers (pictured), country manager BinckBank Belgium. “By launching the Binck turbo, we want to meet the ever increasing demand from our customers to respond faster to price evolutions of underlying assets against an own limited investment,” said Roegiers.

The introduction of the Binck turbo in Belgium comes just weeks after the Belgian government approved new tax reforms in the form of the so-called ‘speculation tax’ on October 10, 2015. Profits earned by individual investors on positions in listed stocks, options and warrants held for less than six months will be subject to 33% tax. Whether or not other derivative products such as turbos will be taxed under this reform will be determined by Royal Decree.

“The decision to launch the Binck turbo was taken earlier this year, before the speculation tax was introduced,” said Roegiers. “It was, and is as yet unclear what the full scope of the tax will be,” he said. “It would therefore not be fair to deny Belgian clients a better product (better opening hours, narrower spreads, lower costs) due to the introduction of a new tax,” he said.

Belgium is the second market where Binck turbos are available. BinckBank first introduced its own Binck turbo in its domestic market, the Netherlands, in July 2014. Since then BinckBank has achieved a significant share of the competitive Dutch market. In August, Binck turbos represented a market share in the Netherlands of 24% in turnover and 29% in number of transactions, second behind BNP Paribas and ahead of Goldman Sachs and ING, according to Jean-Paul van Oudheusden, head of business development for retail at BinckBank.

“The turbos on offer in Belgium are the same turbos as the ones we offer to our clients in the Netherlands,” said Van Oudheusden. Although for the moment underlyings remain the same in both countries, this could change depending on customer demand, according to Van Oudheusden. “We could extend our offer with various local underlyings if our clients demand this,” he said.

Currently more than 15% of the total number of transactions in the Netherlands and in Belgium is done in turbos, said Van Oudheusden.

BinckBank currently has 5,356 Binck turbos on offer including 4,670 based on stocks and 686 on indices. BinckBank is the issuing company while UBS is acting as the market-maker. The Binck turbos are not traded via Euronext but via Cats, the electronic trading platform of the Stuttgart exchange.

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Binck introduces own turbo in Belgium despite looming speculation tax