Trading 212, an early disruptor of zero-commission trading in the UK and Europe, has secured authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs).
The expansion in the trading platforms’ product suite has been some time in the making.
According to the Financial Times, the FCA had granted approval in February 2026. Yet, Trading 212 had indicated as early as April 2020 on its community forum that it intended to launch such accounts within a year.
The Do-It-Yourself Pension Boom
SIPPs, a flexible form of pension that allows individuals to choose and manage their own investments, have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional, provider-led retirement plans.
In the UK alone, industry estimates suggest more than 6.5 million users collectively manage some £650 billion assets in SIPPs by late 2025.
Competitors have taken note. CMC Markets, for instance, introduced its own offering for the UK market through CMC Invest, its equities platform, in 2024.
- Trading 212 Offered Crypto Products in the UK Without FCA Approval: Report
- Trading 212 Reverses Interface Redesign After Users Warn They'll Switch Brokers: “It's Like You're Intentionally Trying To Anger Us”
- Trading 212 Launches Crypto Trading under Its Cyprus Unit
A similar trend is evident elsewhere in Europe.
In Poland, tax-advantaged retirement wrappers such as IKE (Indywidualne Konto Emerytalne) and IKZE (Indywidualne Konto Zabezpieczenia Emerytalnego) have attracted growing interest.
XTB, a retail broker, added 63,500 accounts in December 2025 alone, bringing its total to over 820,000 – roughly a third of all securities accounts registered with the country’s central depository.
The surge was driven in part by intensified marketing of these retirement products.
Trading 212 Is Pushing the Crypto Envelope
Trading 212’s expansion into SIPPs also follows a recent brush with the UK regulator.
Earlier in 2026, it ran into difficulty after the FCA found it had offered crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs) without proper authorisation. The company subsequently applied for, and obtained, the necessary permissions.
ETNs – debt instruments linked to the performance of underlying assets – were previously barred from inclusion in SIPPs, but the regulator reversed that stance in October 2025.
Meanwhile, the trading platform has already moved to expand its crypto footprint. In October 2025, it introduced crypto trading via its Cypriot entity, established the previous year under a CASP licence from the local regulator.
For all its geographic spread, though, the UK remains central to the company’s business. In 2024, Trading 212 reported a net profit of £43.7 million on revenues of £194.1million, with its UK operations contributing £150 million.
