Fidelity-owned platform FundsNetwork has launched a share dealing service.
Advisers using the service can buy shares across the full market cap spectrum on the London Stock Exchange as well as some of the shares listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.
This latest update means stocks and shares are now available within Isas and investment accounts on FundsNetwork and can be traded as part of a regular savings plan, a lump sum investment, a switch and when rebalancing model portfolios.
The previous charging structure of 0.1 per cent for transactions on investment trusts and exchange-traded products has been replaced with a new charging structure of £3 per trade, with switches charged at £1.50 per trade,
Jackie Boylan, head of adviser services at FundsNetwork, said: "This latest enhancement sees us building on our decision to expand the range of investment trusts and ETFs from a few years ago.
"The range of equities we have launched will complement the existing range of funds, investment trusts and exchange-traded products that we offer our advisers and their clients, meaning we now offer over 4,300 investment options on the platform.
"We continue to remain committed to enhancing the platform as part of our multi-year investment programme and as part of this we will also launch the ability to hold individual equities in the FundsNetwork Pension in the near future."
Tom Sparke, investment director at discretionary fund manager GDIM, said: "All of the platforms we use offer some form of share dealing service, whether it’s directly with the firm’s dealers or outsourced to an external one, like StockTrade.
"The charging structure of the new FundsNetwork development is certainly an improvement and makes it competitive with its peers in this space."
david.thorpe@ft.com
