International dealing

Are you considering shares in Amazon, Tesla or Deutsche Bank for your portfolio? Our dealing service lets you choose from 24 international markets. You can buy overseas shares online quickly and easily in your AJ Bell SIPP, Stocks and shares ISA, Lifetime ISA or Dealing account.

What international markets can I deal in?

We offer dealing in 24 international markets including the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

While we try to offer online dealing on as many markets as possible, sometimes a quote may not be available. If this happens, you can call our Dealing Services team on 0345 54 32 600 and they'll be able to help you.

For markets where phone orders are only available, our phone dealing rates will apply.

How do I buy overseas shares?

Buying most overseas shares is as simple as investing in the UK. You can search for the company using our site search and view its dedicated page with a delayed share price in the local currency.

To buy or sell shares, simply log into your account. You'll receive a quote in sterling which will normally be available for up to 15 seconds. The share will appear in your portfolio and be priced using the previous day’s closing price.

What are the costs for dealing in international markets?

You’ll pay a dealing charge each time you buy or sell international shares with us. There's also an additional foreign exchange charge.

The foreign exchange charge is based on the sterling consideration after conversion to/from the local currency at the prevailing spot FX rate. We may share a proportion of this charge with our service provider.

When you deal in certain international markets, additional charges are payable. These are either levied by the government or the local exchange and these charges can appear as exchange fees, tax, levies or stamp duty. These charges will be added to your contract note.

Dealing conditions and tax treatments

US and Canada

We offer online dealing in the main US and Canadian markets for shares that are available as CDIs. CDIs are UK securities representing an underlying interest in an overseas security. They can be bought and sold easily in the UK.

Generally, you can get online quotes for these markets between 2.30pm and 9pm UK time on UK business days. However, sometimes it might not be possible to get an online quote. If this happens then you can call our Dealing Services team between 8am and 7pm.

If you're looking to buy US investments in any account other than a SIPP, you'll need to complete a W-8BEN form. For most accounts, you can complete this online. Log in and select ‘Update my details’, to find it.

For a Junior account and Joint Dealing account, you'll need to complete our offline W-8BEN form. Before getting started, please read the W-8BEN guidelines to help you complete the form correctly. As well as allowing you to deal in US shares, this form lets you benefit from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treaty rate, lowering the withholding tax for qualifying US dividends and interest from 30% to 15%.

A W-8BEN form is not required for US investments held within a SIPP. The IRS recognises our SIPP as a qualifying pension scheme, and all qualifying US dividends and interest are automatically paid to you, free of any withholding tax.

For Canadian investments, you'll need to complete an NR301 form (please see form guidelines here) if you're investing within your Stocks and shares ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA or Dealing account. This allows you to benefit from the treaty rate available. Currently, all qualifying Canadian investments are paid net of 15% withholding tax instead of the full withholding tax rate of 25%.

An NR301 form is not required for Canadian investments held within a Self-invested personal pension.

European markets

Online dealing is available in all the main Western European markets as CDIs.  Market hours in European markets are broadly in line with regular UK market hours on UK business days.

Government taxes apply in the French, Spanish and Italian markets. These are applied as a transaction tax based on a percentage of the consideration for purchases in certain shares – this will be confirmed on your contract note.

Pacific Rim markets

We offer dealing in Australian, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore markets by phone only. There is a minimum investment size of £10,000.

Orders in these markets are only accepted between 8am and 5pm on UK business days. For some shares, you need to place your deal as a limit order. Our Dealing Services team can confirm this for you.

Japanese, Hong Kong and Singapore shares are traded in ‘board lot sizes’, representing the recognised exchange trading unit. The board lot sizes vary for different exchanges and securities, and you can only buy shares in the standard unit of trading for the security. Our Dealing Services team will confirm the lot sizes for you when you place your order.

If you hold any shares outside of these standard lot sizes, these will deal in what is known as the ‘odd lot market’. Prices for these will be slightly lower than that of the same security in the board lot market due to their lower liquidity. Please note that limit orders aren't possible for the amount of your order that is dealt in the odd lot market.

Tax reclaims

Tax treaty arrangements are available for any share dealings in US and Canadian markets. However, any dividend income you receive in other markets would be subject to that country’s relevant withholding tax. We don’t offer any tax reclaim service. Your Dealing account annual tax summary lists any income received from international shares.