In response to the growing fintech competition and zero-fee model, Bettinger himself has"let's not kid ourselves: Everybody's paying, nothing is free ... it's just a matter of how you pay," he said at the Fortune conference.
That will likely be the case now at his own firm. UBS's Hawken said the likely outcome is some sort of expense rationalization through additional fees, or different "tiers" of accounts emerge, similar to traditional banking. It hasn't been easy for Robinhood to get into banking though. In December, it unveiled checking and savings account with a 3% interest rate. Just a day later, they said they were re-naming and re-launching after regulators and Wall Street sounded theThe company has also said it plans to have an IPO eventually, but hasn't set a date or given specific details.
Part of its allure to venture capital is its ability to acquire customers at a cheaper rate than their competitors. The company's growth has largely been driven by word of mouth. Free stock trading was just "the tip of the spear" in their customer acquisition strategy, according to Gilbert.
RobinhoodApp is now officially obsolete as real trading companies are jumping into commission free. The only good thing with Robinhood is the UI/UX.
It’ll be interesting to see how they pivot, but I think their target demographic is a lot lower than Schwab & others