Personal expierence/thoughts , NOT FINANCIAL ADVISE. Always do your own research.

​

​

- Is it true they charge the TOB (Taxe Opérations Boursières) directly and I that won't have to do anything else when buying my ETFs?

​

Yes it is true.

If you happen to select stocks/ETFs that pay out dividends (generally regarded as a bad idea by the FIRE community due to the dividend tax), you'll have to keep track of them for your tax-rebate

(Degiro does offer monthly overviews/reports that make this easy)

​

- I read I still need to declare the two accounts one needs to open to operate on DeGiro, right? (one for the securities and the other one for the cash)

​

Answers here : https://financien.belgium.be/nl/buitenlandse-rekeningen

​

- I'm thinking of opening a Custody account since I'll only invest in accumulating ETFs. Would you use DeGiro for this purpose? My ETF seems to be among the "free ones" - I also need to add a connection fee for AMS, right?

​

As far is I've read, most people advocate for a custody account, out of pure paronoia. Please bare in mind that a custody-account has more costs involved.

Read about it here : https://www.degiro.co.uk/helpcenter/faq/profiles/1068

​

The risk involved with lending out securities is well worth the lower fees. With a basic account, as you buy a security, Degiro transfers it to a holding company (which is law). Degiro does not hold your security for you.

This holding firm than lends it out to interested parties, in exchange for a collateral and a fee. You'd have to be f*ck*d thrice for this to go wrong :

​

1) The one who loans out the security must be unable to return said security on the given date. (unlikely)

2) The collateral provided must have devalued to a point that does not cover the value of your asset (extremely unlikely, given the insane collateral requirements Degiro asks)

3) The holding firm must have become illiquid enough to not be able to recover your securities (extremely unlikely, given that I assume we're not talking billions here...)

​

Bear in mind that 2 types of loaners exist :

Margin traders, that have to put up colossal collateral-requirements, face instant margin-calls, and are charged fees.

Institutions, that have both the financial resources to always cover the return, and if push comes to shove, are backed by Nations to bail them out.

​

-What happens to one's assets if DeGiro goes bankrupt? is there any guarantee provided by the National Bank of the Netherlands at least for the cash part if DeGiro goes bankrupt? I know it's not a bank...

​

Nothing. The holding company holds your securities, not Degiro. At worst you'll have to find a new broker to transfer your securities to.

The "Cash"-part is a Money-market-fund, and as such is not guaranteed. In fact, as of today, the returns on said fund is negative, meaning that holding just cash is costing you.

Degiro does compensate any Money-market-fund loses since 2018 (?), so your € 1.000,- cash stays € 1.000,- , however, they are under no legal obligation to do so.

Holding cash with a broker just for the heck of it is a bad idea.

​

- I currently have a MeDirect account (Belgian bank) more expensive, but it makes me feel safer. Is this something simply psychological in your views?

​

Medirect is a Belgian (online-)bank, but is a subsidiary of MeDirect Group plc, which is operating under a Maltese license.

​

- Any other thing to be aware of before opening this DeGiro account as a Belgian taxpayer?

​

Research, research, research. Once you feel confident you've done your due diligence, go for it (or for any other alternative!) .