Online sharedealing

With InvestDirect, you pay for shares from your nominated HSBC current account. InvestDirect has an initial dealing limit of £20,000.

With InvestDirect Plus, you pay for shares via a Cash Account that we set up for you. When you want to trade, you just transfer in money via online banking. When you make an online transfer, you must put your full name (forename and surname) in the payee details. If you don’t, your payment instruction may be declined.

There is no trading limit – you can buy shares up to the value of whatever money you have in your Cash Account.

Once you’ve opened your sharedealing account, you can apply for an InvestDirect stocks and shares ISA online. Simply log on, select your sharedealing account, select ‘Product & services’ and then click ‘ISA’.

Trading within a stocks and shares ISA is a tax-efficient way to invest your money as all income from your shares will be free of income tax. It also means you won’t be liable for any capital gains tax when you sell your investments.

Trading within an ISA works differently to trading made outside an ISA. First, you need to transfer funds to your HSBC InvestDirect stocks and shares ISA before you can trade, which you can do via online banking. Also, proceeds from a sale will remain inside your ISA. You can request a cash withdrawal from your ISA at any time – although if you do, you can only replace this within the current tax year by using an additional part of your ISA allowance. 

Remember, tax rules for ISAs may change in the future. And the tax benefits you can receive will depend on your individual circumstances.

You could transfer in existing ISA and non-ISA investments held with other providers into your sharedealing account. You could also transfer paper share certificates to us. To do so, just download and complete the transfer request form which you’ll find within the sharedealing section of online banking.

The process normally takes 2 weeks but can depend on your current provider. As soon as the process is complete, you’ll be able to sell your shares if you want to.

Although investing is often seen as long-term commitment, you can withdraw your money whenever you need to. If you’re not sure about whether to sell your shares, you may want to take independent advice.

When you sell your assets, your proceeds will be available on the settlement date, which is determined by the market and type of asset you hold. UK and US equity trades normally settle 2 business days after the date of the trade (T+2) and gilt trades after 1 business day (T+1). 

If you have an InvestDirect account, the money from a sale will be transferred to your nominated HSBC account in the evening of the settlement date. If you have an InvestDirect Plus account, your money will become available in your Cash Account within the same timescales.

You can transfer money out of your InvestDirect Plus Cash Account within the Sharedealing section of Online Banking, to an eligible HSBC Current Account. Instructions received before 15:00 will be processed the same day. Instructions received after 15:00 will be processed the following day.

We want to make sure our products and services are right for your circumstances. If you’re not sure whether an investment is suitable for you, we recommend you consider taking financial advice.

To find out about getting investment advice from HSBC, read our investment advice page. 

To find out more about the wider industry, including how to seek independent financial advice, you can visit Money Advice Service.

Risk is the extent to which the value of your investments is likely to rise or fall.

All investments carry some degree of risk. A higher level of risk could bring the potential for greater return on your money, but there is also a greater chance the value of your investment could go down.

Before investing, you need to consider not only what you want to gain and how long you want to invest for, but also how much you can afford to lose if the markets were to drop significantly.

Equities, stocks and shares are all words used to describe owning a stake in a company.

When you buy shares, you’re effectively taking ownership of a small part of a particular company.

Investors buy and sell equity in the form of ‘shares’. If a company’s value increases, their value of the shares in that company also increase. And of course, if a company’s value decreases, the value of their shares decrease.

An investment trust is a listed company that raises money by selling shares to investors. It then pools that money to buy and sell a wide range of shares and assets. 

When you buy shares in an investment trust, you buy shares in that company. The number of shares issued is limited so they are known as ‘closed ended’. 

If you need a Certificate of Interest (Tax Certificate) to complete your tax self-assessment, please send us a secure e-message in online banking or by using chat in the mobile banking app.

The Certification of Interest confirms the total amount of credit interest paid into an account over the tax year.

Once we receive your request, we’ll post this to you within 7 working days.

Exchange-traded funds, also referred to as ETFs, are investment funds that are traded on a stock exchange, much like equities. ETFs hold assets such as stocks, commodities, bonds, or a basket of assets. 

Most ETFs track an index, such as a stock index, or bond index. ETFs experience price changes throughout the day as they’re bought and sold.