Lightyear was founded by Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, both former Wise (TransferWise) employees. The Wise background matters: Lightyear was built with a product-first mindset focused on transparent fees and frictionless currency handling — the same philosophy that made Wise a breakout product in international money transfer.

Lightyear Europe AS is authorised and regulated by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA). The UK entity, Lightyear UK Ltd, is authorised by the FCA (FRN 775330). Available in the UK and over 22 European countries, with a 4.7/5 Trustpilot rating from 2,300+ verified user reviews.

A notable structural point: Lightyear routes orders directly to exchanges and does not use payment-for-order-flow (PFOF). Revenue comes from explicit, transparent fees — not from selling your order flow to market makers who may execute at worse prices.

Lightyear’s Savings Vault invests your uninvested cash into AAA-rated BlackRock money market funds. Interest is paid daily and credited monthly. Rates track ECB and central bank overnight rates and will fluctuate as monetary policy changes. Liquidity is same-day or next-day — not a fixed-term product.

These rates significantly outperform Trade Republic’s 1% p.a. on EUR and most competitors — especially on GBP and USD balances where 4.0% APY is well above the peer average. For investors accumulating contributions between ETF purchases, the Vault is a meaningful return on what would otherwise be idle cash.

Plans lets you create mini-portfolios within your main account, each with its own set of investments and percentage allocations. When you fund a Plan, the money automatically distributes according to your chosen weightings. You can run multiple Plans simultaneously — one for retirement, one for a house deposit, one for a child’s future — all inside the same Lightyear account.

Each Plan supports automated recurring contributions via standing order or from your Lightyear Cash balance, making dollar-cost averaging a low-effort habit rather than a monthly decision. There are no additional fees for using Plans — you pay the standard trade costs (free ETFs, standard FX).

Lightyear now offers fractional investing on both stocks and ETFs, not just US stocks as was previously the case. This makes it easier to build a diversified portfolio with smaller amounts and to invest recurring contributions fully without cash drag from rounding. Minimum investment applies — check the app for current thresholds per asset.

Lightyear supports EUR, GBP, and USD accounts simultaneously. By funding the relevant currency wallet directly via bank transfer, you bypass the FX conversion fee entirely on trades in that currency. Most investors will still use FX conversion for convenience, but the option to avoid it is a structural advantage over brokers that force conversion at every trade.

The multi-currency setup also benefits investors who receive dividends in multiple currencies — Lightyear holds them in the appropriate wallet rather than auto-converting and eroding value on each payment. For UK investors who buy EUR-priced UCITS ETFs, this removes unnecessary double conversion.

Portfolio transfers are supported both inbound and outbound — useful if you’re consolidating from another broker or eventually moving positions out. Lightyear documents the transfer process in their help centre; the process varies depending on the sending broker.

Interactive Brokers wins when you need institutional FX rates (from ~0.002% versus Lightyear’s 0.35% for EU), access to bonds, options, and 150+ global markets, or a platform you won’t outgrow as your portfolio scales into six and seven figures. The Lightyear 0.1% UK rate is competitive, but IBKR’s Tiered pricing goes far lower at volume.

The trade-off is setup complexity and a less polished mobile experience. If you’re willing to spend a couple of hours on account setup and learn the FX workflow, IBKR saves real money at scale. See our IBKR currency conversion guide for that workflow.