Nominee vs Segregated Accounts:
Does It Matter?

Most EU retail brokers use this model. It’s operationally cheaper: instead of maintaining thousands of individual CSD (Central Securities Depository) accounts, the broker holds one large omnibus account in which all client positions are pooled together. This is legal and regulated under MiFID II — brokers must maintain internal records of each client’s entitlement within the pool.

The key risk: those records are the broker’s internal ledger, not a direct entry at the CSD. If the broker’s records are inaccurate, or if there is fraud or an operational gap between what the pool actually holds and what the ledger shows, some clients could receive less than expected in an insolvency.

DEGIRO uses a slightly unusual version. Your investments aren’t held by DEGIRO N.V. directly — they’re held by Stichting DEGIRO, a separate legal entity (SPV) incorporated in the Netherlands. The intent is to legally separate client assets from DEGIRO’s own balance sheet. If DEGIRO’s operating entity entered insolvency, creditors wouldn’t have a direct claim on the Stichting’s assets.

However, the Stichting still holds shares in an omnibus pool. Recovery would still require an administrator to reconcile each client’s entitlement from DEGIRO’s internal records — slower and more complex than a fully segregated structure.

The most important property is what happens in insolvency: an administrator can identify and return client assets quickly, without reconciling complex entitlements across a shared pool. Your assets are yours — labelled, separated, and recoverable independently of the broker’s failure.

Note: you are still typically not the direct registered holder at the CSD — a custodian is. But your account is ring-fenced rather than pooled with others.

Interactive Brokers holds client assets in segregated accounts under strict regulatory requirements. In the EU, IBKR operates primarily through Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Client securities and cash are kept separate from IBKR’s own proprietary assets.

EU retail clients at IBKR Ireland are covered by Ireland’s Investor Compensation Company (ICC) up to the relevant limit. The segregated structure means that in any insolvency scenario, the administrator’s job is significantly simpler — your assets are already identifiable and ring-fenced.

The ICF backstop covers your full exposure. DEGIRO’s nominee structure is unlikely to be a meaningful risk. Prioritise costs and usability — the structural difference is academic at this portfolio size.

Some investors spread assets across two different brokers to stay within ICF coverage limits at each and avoid depending on a single firm’s structure. This adds complexity but removes single-broker concentration risk entirely.