AJ Bell has opened up its online trading platform to Aim rival Aquis Stock Exchange following a spike in customer demand for easier access to stocks on the fledgling growth company index.
Retail investors will now be able to directly access shares on the Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE) via the AJ Bell Youinvest platform.
The pan-European exchange, now the seventh largest in Europe, has emerged as a fierce competitor to the London Stock Exchange’s Aim index since it acquired the smaller companies Nex Exchange last year for £2.7m.
AJ Bell customers will have access to 90 listed growth companies via their Isas, Sipps and general dealing investment accounts.
Companies on the AQSE are split into two segments – ‘Access,’ which focuses on earlier stage growth companies, and ‘Apex’ for larger, more mature businesses.
Apex stocks have an average market cap of £80m and include brewery Adnams, Arbuthnot Banking Group and former Neil Woodford biotech holding Rutherford Health.
Establishing links with platform giants will be key for AQSE
“Our goal is to make investing easy for our customers, whether they are managing their investments themselves or with the help of a financial adviser,” said AJ Bell CEO Andy Bell (pictured).
“Many of them have told us they want to be able to trade stocks listed on Aquis Stock Exchange and we are pleased to make this available to them.”
Establishing links with the major platforms like AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown will be key for smaller exchanges to drum up investor interest, said Fairview Investing consultant Ben Yearsley. “Aquis is doing exactly the right thing.”
Hargreaves Lansdown and IG are also reportedly in talks to establish live electronic trading with AQSE.
See also: AJ Bell, Hargreaves and II demand greater access for retail investors in IPOs
AQSE lures companies with cheaper listings
Tilney managing director Jason Hollands notes AQSE is “still a very nascent exchange” with just a fraction of the equities listed on the Aim index.
“But it is cheaper to list on than Aim which certainly adds some competitive dynamic for smaller companies, wanting to provide access to their shares,” he adds.
E-commerce retailer Samarkand chose AQSE over Aim for its listing last month and crypto company NFT Investments has followed suit.
Similar to Aim, dealing in shares in UK companies listed on AQSE are exempt from stamp duty and some could be exempt from IHT if the shares have been held for two years or more.
“This latter feature has a been a big part of the success of Aim, which has attracted a lot of cash from discretionary fund managers running IHT mitigation strategies,” Hollands said.
AQSE raising standards and boosting liquidity
AQSE CEO Alasdair Haynes said: “We are very pleased AJ Bell has given its clients electronic access to trade AQSE shares. Today, some of the UK’s most exciting growth companies are choosing to get a quotation on AQSE.
“Since we acquired this business [Nex] last year we have been making numerous changes to radically raise standards and increase liquidity.
“We fervently believe in retail investors having equal opportunities to trade as institutional players as part of our mission to get the public back into public markets for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
