Scalable Capital review: plans, fees, exchanges and protection

Overview

Scalable Capital is an investment app run by Scalable Capital Bank GmbH, a company founded in 2014 with its headquarters in Munich, Germany. Its legal information names the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the Deutsche Bundesbank as its supervisors and says it is a credit institution with BaFin permission to provide banking and investment services. The help centre adds that the European Central Bank has allowed it to take deposits and lend. The site publishes no BaFin register number, and BaFin’s company database does not allow automated access, so we could not check the licence there. All facts in this review were checked on 28 October 2026.

Where it is available

The site’s country selector says the service is offered to people living in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands; the help centre says “metropolitan France”. Belgium, Ireland and Portugal are not on the list. You also need a current account at a bank in the SEPA area and a phone number from the European Economic Area, and US persons cannot open an account. If you move outside the EEA, the account cannot be kept. Clients in Austria and Italy are being moved to Austrian and Italian branches of the same bank, with local IBANs.

Products and exchanges

The Scalable Broker offers more than 8,000 stocks (US companies such as Apple are in its list), more than 2,700 ETFs, over 3,800 funds, derivatives and crypto ETPs. Bonds are only for residents of Germany and Austria. You cannot buy fractions of shares in a single order; savings plans, from EUR 1, buy fractions for you.

Orders go to three German venues: the European Investor Exchange (EIX, run at the Hannover Stock Exchange together with Scalable Capital), gettex (Munich Stock Exchange) and Xetra (Deutsche Börse). Trading is only possible in euros, so US shares are bought in euros on these venues; there is no foreign-currency account. The help centre says Scalable Capital Bank is one of the two market makers on the European Investor Exchange.

Costs

There are two plans:

• FREE Broker (no monthly fee): EUR 0.99 per order on the European Investor Exchange. Savings plans and purchases of ETFs from its partners Amundi, iShares, Vanguard and Xtrackers of EUR 250 or more cost nothing; selling those ETFs costs EUR 0.99.
• PRIME+ Broker (EUR 4.99 a month): no order fee on trades of EUR 250 or more on EIX and gettex, EUR 0.99 below that.

In both plans an order on gettex or Xetra costs EUR 1.99. The site says there are no securities account fees, no custody fees, no third-party fees and no issue surcharges. Crypto ETPs carry a spread surcharge of 0.99% (FREE) or 0.69% (PRIME+). Because trading is in euros, Scalable publishes no currency conversion fee.

Protection

Deposits at Scalable Capital Bank are covered by the Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken, the German statutory deposit guarantee scheme, up to EUR 100,000 per depositor. Your cash is not always held there: with PRIME+ it is spread across Scalable and partner banks (up to 5 × EUR 100,000); without PRIME+ it can also sit in qualifying money market funds, which are not bank deposits. Securities are not part of Scalable’s insolvency estate, according to the help centre. The Overnight account currently pays a variable 2.60% a year.

Deposits and withdrawals

You pay in by SEPA transfer (standard or instant) from your own current account, free of charge. “Scalable Instant” collects money by SEPA direct debit and costs 0.99% of the deposit on FREE or 0.69% on PRIME+, with every euro above EUR 5,000 free. SWIFT, PayPal and Wise are not accepted, and the site mentions no card payments. Withdrawals go only to your reference account, usually within two business days; SEPA Instant withdrawals are available.

What we could not confirm

• A BaFin register number or a register entry (the database does not allow automated access).
• The full price list in the client documentation (its download area is closed to automated access).
• Any currency cost hidden in the euro price of US shares, and whether there is an inactivity fee.
• Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay deposits: not mentioned.

We have not tested this platform with our own account yet; this review will be updated when we do.