By Hannah Lang

(Reuters] – Revolut’s digital bank app based out of Britain has launched free stock trading in America on Wednesday. It will compete with other online brokerages, such as Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ) Charles Schwab (NYSE:) Corp.

Revolut’s launch coincides with a larger surge in retail trade, which increased last year as investors seized on so-called “meme stock” such as GameStop (NYSE 🙂 or AMC Entertainment (NYSE :).

According to Vanda Research (NASDAQ:), approximately $281 billion was spent by U.S. retail investors on stocks in 2021. This is an increase of $38 billion from 2019.

Revolut claims the new product is part its mission to create a superapp that allows consumers to manage all their financial affairs. Revolut offers payment services, crypto trading, and savings accounts.

Gabe Vallejo is the U.S. Head of Wealth and Trading at Revolut.

U.S. Revolut clients can trade both full and fractional shares for more than 1,100 securities, which are all listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Revolut customers in Europe and the United Kingdom have access to zero-commission stock trading. In July’s investment round, the company was valued at $33Billion. The company is Britain’s second largest fintech company.

Revolut was launched as a bank app in March 2020 in the United States. It received a U.S. Broker-dealer license September 2021.

Revolut, like Robinhood will be relying on the payment for order flow, (PFOF), to generate revenue from its commission-free tradings. This controversial practice, in which market makers are routed to brokers in exchange for fees, is similar to Robinhood.

The Securities and Exchange Commission are currently considering whether or not to ban this practice. Gary Gensler, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, expressed concern about commission-free brokerages encouraging investors to trade more to capture more PFOF even though it isn’t in their best interests.

Vallejo stated that Revolut was not worried about the SEC review, and that he believed Revolut would be able evolve as needed should the rules change.

He stated, “We are confident that we can keep offering this product to customers in the most efficient way possible.”