Robinhood shelves UK launch, puts global expansion on hold

Robinhood Markets Inc has put its global expansion plans on hold and the online brokerage platform is postponing its plans to expand in the UK indefinitely.

“We’ll be closing our waitlist and taking down our UK website shortly,” the Menlo Park, California-based firm said in an email to those on a waiting list on Tuesday, which was viewed by Bloomberg. “We’ve come to recognise that our efforts are currently best spent on strengthening our core business in the US and making further investments in our foundational systems.”

Robinhood’s trading app - a popular online brokerage platform used by US retail investors -- had several technical issues throughout the year. A system-wide outage in March lasted an an entire trading day and its users missed out as stocks surged.

Companies in the UK that offer similar services reacted positively to the news. UK retail investment services provider Hargreaves Lansdown Plc’s shares rose as much as 10% in London trading, the biggest intraday gain since May 14. Another investment platform provider, AJ Bell Plc, climbed as much as 2.5%.

Robinhood had previously delayed its early 2020 UK launch date and was planning to have its trading app available to users there before year end.