Some years back, an investor had to locate a stockbroker, fill out forms, and wait till the end of the financial year to receive dividends which were usually delivered through the postal service.
It was even more difficult to invest in foreign stock back then. Today, that has changed, FinTech has simplified foreign investments and cross-border securities transactions.
You can now buy stocks, Exchange Traded Fund (ETFs), and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) among others right on your phone. Not just that, you can also monitor the performance of your portfolio in real-time: anywhere and any time with a browsing data-enabled device.
So, how can you invest in profitable companies in the United States right from Nigeria? You don’t need to hold a U.S. passport nor do you need to be a U.S. citizen to buy shares in U.S-based companies.
In fact some of the investment and mutual funds companies that are the top largest shareholder in Twitter allow foreigners to invest wherever they are.
What are stocks?
Also known as shares, equities, stocks give you a say, voting and a portion of ownership in a company, meaning you take a portion of the company’s profit at the end of a financial year.
The profit could be in form of cash which is credited into your wallet (depending on how the platform is designed) bonus shares, and increasing value.
Is it safe to invest in foreign stocks from Nigeria?
The first thing to do before buying shares in any company is to check the integrity and the legitimacy of such a firm if it has the required licence to carry out business.
Sometimes in May 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it was monitoring brokers that sell foreign stocks in Nigeria.
The commission has the capacity to monitor and regulate stocks operating within Nigeria’s jurisdiction, as such it has the power to licence firms that offer foreign stocks to Nigeria.
SEC’s Executive Commissioner of Operations, Mr Dayo Obisan, was quoted in an interview with Bloomberg as saying that there are rules on foreign investments.
“Broadly speaking, all capital market instruments are registrable – equities, bonds, units of investment funds, derivatives, etc.”
It’s also important to carry out personal due diligence, ask questions, and dig into the operations and activities of the investment brokers or partners.
We noticed that some of the firms that offer foreign stocks and investment services in Nigeria do so by partnering with U.S-based brokers.
Caution:
Investing in stocks isn’t a get rich quick scheme. And carefully read the Terms and Conditions of the company involved.
6 Investment Apps That Allow You To Buy Foreign Stocks From Nigeria
Out of the six stock-buying apps below, one of them is based in the United States of America while the rest are Nigerian-based and are registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), licenced by the Nigerian Stocks Exchange (NSE) and also regulated by SEC.
These are the ways to gain access to global and foreign shares in Nigeria:
- Wealth NG
- Trove
- Bamboo
- Rise Capital
- Chaka
- Passfolio
WealthNG
One of the recent questions we received from someone of our readers is: Is wealthNG a legitimate investment company? The answer is YES.
Headquartered at 33B, Cameron Road, Off Alfred Rewane, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, WealthNG is owned by the founder of Sankore Securities Limited, a stock brokerage firm in Lagos, Mrs Titi Odunfa.
It is one of the companies that incorporated technology into stock trading locally like purchasing shares in Dangote, UBA, GTCo and other Nigerian companies, some of its products include ETFs, REITs, but it has stepped up its game by including foreign stocks.
What we like about Wealth NG
Its app is easy to use as it gives users access to global stocks and when there is a change in price, they can easily get the information right on wealthNG app.
Its mode of funding your wallet Flutterwave is safe and secured
Trove:
With access to stocks of big players like Uber, Facebook, Dangote, Netflix, and Apple among others, trove is one of the legitimate foreign investment apps based at 18b Oladimeji Alo Street off Freedom Way, Lekki, Lagos State, that give you access to global stock trading.
What we love about trove:
Its minimum investment is affordable as it gives everyone that wants to plan for the future to do so as low as $10, meaning you can start with less than N5,000. This is called fractional investing.
Is trove legit?
The firm isn’t a registered broker-dealer but rather a technology platform, it only works with registered stock brokerage companies in the United States and Nigeria.
From this declaration, one may want to exercise caution, but this disclosure is expected of an investment platform. It’s legit, above all, investing involves risk, invest wisely.
InvestBamboo
With an opportunity to buy shares in Paypal, Facebook, Tesla, HP, and Facebook among other 300 foreign stocks, InvestBamboo is one of the firms that redefined how Nigerians see global stocks.
With the opportunity to fund your account in either Naira or US Dollars, you can choose which stock you want to buy. Most of the people who use this app said they prefer the USD account because it allows avoiding the falling value of the Nigerian currency.
What we love about bamboo investment app
First, the company had undergone several scrutinies from NSE, SEC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) relating to foreign currency infractions, and it was able to cross the hurdle.
While investors may be afraid, at InfomediaNG, we believe this is fine and creates more credibility for the company that its platform is legit.
Apart from the verification process that is carried out on prospective investors through BVN, the ability to track my portfolio makes it cool.
Above all, you don’t need to be an expert, it’s created with an inclusiveness goal. In fact, you can start small and grow big as you gain more confidence.
Rise capital
With access to Google shares, Alibaba stocks among others, rise capital, has done more than half of the job by ensuring that only US stocks that have long-term growth are listed, but then no one can predict the outcome of an investment 100%, meaning you should also be cautious.
On the platform are other investments like real estate which could yield 15% per year, this means you could spread your portfolio. For instance, put 40% of your money in stocks, 40% in real estate
What we love about rise capital
Some of the guides provide on the platform make it a good platform for a beginner to start.
Chaka
Apart from being the fist investment firm to obtain FinTech licence from the Security Exchange Commission, its US dollar assets are regulated by the US FINRA and the US SEC.
What we love about Chaka
Recommendations for traders and investors by its qualified professionals. And its minimum investment of $10 or less than N5,000 or N1000, if you’re buying local stocks, makes it accessible.
Passfolio
While Chaka, wealth.ng, bamboo are specifically designed to give Nigerians access to invest in U.S. and Chinese shares, Passfolio Financial is more global than the aforementioned ones as it allows close to 200 countries to buy shares in the United States.
The San Francisco-based FinTech investment firm gives cryptocurrency enthusiasts to fund their accounts by using cryptos.
What we love about Passfolio Financial
Some people may be constrained due to trans-border transaction laws, so they can first fund their accounts using cryptocurrencies which can then be converted into dollars through Passfolio Financial, then move the dollar proceeds to their brokerage accounts at Passfolio Securities, where users are then able to buy securities.
If you can’t use buy cryptocurrency through your bank, debit or credit card, there are more than 10 peer-to-peer platforms you can use to fund your passfolio
To even explore the advanced features, you can subscribe to Passfolio Pro and gain access to features such as Margin Trading, and Advanced Orders among others.
Wrapping up:
There is no limitation to the number of American stocks you can buy anymore. There can’t be anything easier than sitting in the comfort of your home and monitoring your shares in the United States.