After over a year of not trading via the Bamboo platform, I decided to move my investments to Bamboo. This move came as a result of the Nigerian effect striking once more, as Trading212 moved to halt the processing of card deposits from Nigerians.
This development limits our transactions options with Trading212, as now you can only make payments via Skrill or Bank Transfers. Sadly Google Pay is also not an alternative for us as long as you are transacting from Nigeria.
To continue my trade on Bamboo, I opted to fund my account and was excited when I realized Dollar deposits from Payoneer are possible. I proceeded with the deposit, only to realize the charges attached to funding my Bamboo account with Dollars.
Introduction
Apparently, Dollar deposits on Bamboo come with an initial 2.9% transaction charge. And if your account is funded with Dollars, you can only withdraw in Dollars with a $45 charge.
$45 is roughly N26,100 at an exchange rate of ₦580 to $1.
I’m broke, very much still broke, and a $45 withdrawal charge is a big deal for me. So I made intensive research into all the charges you will encounter while investing/trading via Bamboo.
So here is a breakdown of all the transaction charges on Bamboo;
Deposits
Standard deposits on Bamboo take between 1-2 business days to reflect and be available for transactions in your Bamboo account. Deposits have a 1.4% processing fee on Naira card transactions and Barter transactions (capped at 2,000 Naira).
On Naira mobile bank transfers, there is a 150 Naira processing fee, while Dollar card transactions attract a 2.9% processing fee.
Please Note: The processing fees for wire transfers vary across different banks.
Instant deposits attract an extra fee of 0.1% (with a minimum fee of $1 and a maximum fee of $10). This means that if 0.1% of what you are depositing is more than $10, the extra fee will be $10. However, if 0.1% of what you are depositing is less than $1, the extra fee will be $1.
Withdrawals
If you make a deposit from a Naira payment option, you can only withdraw to a Naira account. Deposits from a USD payment option can only be withdrawn to a USD account.
On Naira bank accounts withdrawals, there is a transaction fee of ₦45, and a $45 transaction charge for withdrawals to USD bank accounts.
Investing/Trading
For investing/trading, Bamboo currently charges 1.5% on all buy and sell trades. Before a trade goes through, you will see the “Estimated Commission” on that particular transaction when you review your Buy/Sell order.
The good thing is that Bamboo will always give notice if their Trade Fee is going to change.
Dividends
On dividends, there is a 30% WHT (Withholding Tax). This is a mandatory tax taken by the United States government for individuals buying stock outside of the United States.
Just for your information, all these charges (except the charges on buy and sell transactions) do not actually go to Bamboo. The transaction fee on deposits and withdrawals are charges from the initiating banks and payment processors.
Conclusion
Nothing is free even in Freetown the saying goes. There are certainly alternative stock brokerage platforms with no transaction charges on deposits, withdrawals and trades. But considering the peculiarity in which InvestBamboo is operating, I believe the charges are reasonable.
The beautiful thing is that the charges are transparent and nothing is hidden. As an investor/trader, you would just have to factor in the charges into your trades.
If you want to converse on anything stocks or not, do not hesitate to say hi via Twitter, I look forward to conversing with you.
