Bolero

Bolero prices share orders by order size and market, from its price list valid from 1 January 2026. Every listed product except options follows the same ladder, so trackers, turbos and listed bonds cost what a share costs on that market. Bands are in EUR, in USD for US orders.

In the price list, Euronext covers Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Dublin, Milan and Oslo. The ETF Playlist of 100 ETFs is charged on the Euronext ladder wherever the fund is listed. Elsewhere: Euronext Expert Market 1% (minimum EUR 30), markets reached only by phone 1% (minimum EUR 75), Luxembourg 0.50% (minimum EUR 30). For orders above EUR or USD 250,000 the Orderdesk quotes the tariff on request, and a partially filled order is charged only once (automatically on Euronext, by refund on request on other markets).

In practice a EUR 1,000 Euronext order costs EUR 5, or 0.50%, and an order just above EUR 2,500 costs EUR 15. That is cheap for small tickets and middling for mid-sized ones.

Around the commission: no custody fee, no account management fee and no minimum deposit, free opening and closing, and free real-time quotes on Euronext and US markets for clients who place at least two orders there every three months. The costs to watch are the 0.60% currency margin when euros are converted for a foreign trade, EUR 15 for a phone order in a security that can be traded online, EUR 50 per position to move securities to a bank outside the KBC group, and 2% (maximum EUR 125) for collecting foreign dividends. Belgian stock exchange tax and foreign transaction taxes are shown separately on the contract note.

Bolero is not a separate company. It is a service of KBC Bank NV (enterprise number 0462.920.226, Havenlaan 2, 1080 Brussels), which has run the platform since 1 July 2018, when Bolero moved within the KBC group from the stockbroker KBC Securities to the bank.

The supervision is layered, and each layer can be traced to a public document:

• The National Bank of Belgium lists KBC Bank NV among the credit institutions licensed under Belgian law.
• The European Central Bank's list of supervised entities (cut-off 1 September 2026) names KBC Group NV as a significant group, with KBC Bank NV as one of its credit institutions. Bolero's general terms (version 30 October 2026) say the ECB exercises prudential supervision through a Joint Supervisory Team that includes NBB staff.
• The FSMA supervises conduct rules and financial markets, according to the same terms.

Protection comes from the Belgian Garantiefonds voor financiële diensten. Bolero states that cash is covered up to EUR 100,000 per person per institution and that, if KBC Bank cannot return client securities, the fund pays up to EUR 20,000 per client. The securities themselves remain your property. Crypto assets, and cash linked to crypto services, are covered by none of the Belgian schemes.

The parent KBC Group NV is listed on Euronext Brussels under the ticker KBC and is part of the BEL 20. It was formed in 1998 from the merger of Kredietbank, CERA Bank and ABB Insurance, reports 13 million clients, and its 2025 annual report includes the statutory auditor's report by KPMG.

One point needs care: the account can go negative. Bolero grants no securities credit, but 30% of the portfolio value counts towards the balance available for buy orders until settlement. A negative balance costs 3-month Euribor plus 10% (minimum 10%), and after five working days in the red a debit procedure starts that can end in a forced sale. None of this makes any broker guaranteed safe.

Bolero runs a web platform and an app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Both are free, and both use itsme® for login and for signing orders.

The web platform is built around the Hotspot, a profile page for each security with recent prices, analyst recommendations, a calendar, market depth and key ratios, plus fundamental and technical analysis for experienced investors. Around it sit a search by name, ISIN or ticker, screeners for ETFs and turbos, the Idea Center with the Bolero Benelux and World selections that its analysts update, watchlists with price targets, price alerts by e-mail or push message, a portfolio view with returns and allocation, and Excel export from most menus.

Order types are market, limit, stop-loss and stop-limit, valid for the day or until a chosen date; stop-loss orders are not available in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, where stop-limit orders are. For security, buy orders on the website and in the app are limited to EUR 100,000 by default. Sell orders have no limit, and the Orderdesk can raise the buy limit if the portfolio allows it. Real-time quotes on Euronext (excluding Milan and Oslo) and US markets are free during the first three months and afterwards for clients who place at least two orders on those markets every three months; other markets show prices delayed by 15 minutes.

The app needs Android 9.0 or iOS 16.4 or later and carries the portfolio, quotes and order entry; Bolero Crowdfunding campaigns are not yet in it. KBC's annual report for 2025 says the consultancy Sia named Bolero the best Belgian investment app for the second year in a row. That is KBC's account of an external award, not our rating.

We found no demo account and no published interface for automated trading, so systematic strategies are not what Bolero is built for.

Bolero's FAQ lists online trading on more than 20 markets: Euronext Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon, all US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, Amex), Toronto, Milan, Madrid, London, Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Budapest, Slovakia and Slovenia. Other exchanges, including Asian markets, Greece, Luxembourg, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, can be reached by phone through the Orderdesk without a phone surcharge, at 1% (minimum EUR 75) for the offline markets and 0.50% (minimum EUR 30) for Luxembourg.

The range covers:

• Shares, ETFs and trackers, including the 100 funds of the ETF Playlist
• Turbos, speeders and sprinters and warrants, with underlyings that include commodities and currencies
• Options on shares, indices and currencies on Euronext, London, Germany and the US, at EUR 3, GBP 3 or USD 3 per contract
• Bonds, listed and unlisted, and new share issues led by KBC without brokerage
• Unlisted funds through the Orderdesk: free for KBC Asset Management funds, 1% (minimum EUR 50) for other funds
• Bolero Crowdfunding campaigns, for personal accounts only
• Bitcoin and Ether

Some gaps are stated by Bolero itself. Futures are not offered, according to its FAQ, short selling is not allowed, and securities cannot be bought on credit. Its product list names no CFDs or forex trading, and we found no source for fractional share trading; fractions are documented only for crypto. For commodities, Bolero points to trackers and turbos.

Crypto arrived in February 2026. Bitcoin and Ether trade around the clock except during maintenance, in fractions down to six decimals, at 0.50% of the order value with a minimum of EUR 5. KBC Bank holds the coins itself in omnibus accounts, so you never manage private keys. That convenience has limits. Coins from another platform or wallet cannot be transferred in. A transfer out is possible only for the full position, to an address in your name at a regulated crypto-asset service provider in the EU or EEA, with network fees at your cost and a two-year ban on new crypto purchases at Bolero afterwards. Crypto is outside the guarantee fund, and the stock exchange tax does not apply to it.

For a Belgian investor the tax handling matters as much as the price list, and this is where a domestic bank platform differs most from a foreign app.

The stock exchange tax (TOB) is withheld on every trade and shown on the contract note. Bolero's overview (version 04-2026) gives 0.35% on shares and warrants (maximum EUR 1,600), 0.12% on funds registered in the EEA (maximum EUR 1,300) and 1.32% on accumulating beveks recognised by the FSMA (maximum EUR 4,000). Foreign transaction taxes, such as UK stamp duty of 0.50% or the French transaction tax of 0.40%, are added where they apply.

The capital gains tax of 10% applies to sales from 1 January 2026, and Bolero describes two routes:

• Withholding (opt-in), the default from 1 June 2026: Bolero deducts 10% of the realised gain at each sale and pays it to the tax authority. The annual exemption of EUR 10,000 is then reclaimed through your tax return, using the yearly overview of gains and losses that Bolero sends.
• Opt-out: nothing is withheld, Bolero reports your choice to the tax authority and sends the overview, and you declare the gains yourself.

The choice is made per account and stays in force until you change it. Bolero stopped taking online opt-out requests on 29 May 2026; since 18 June, requests for single-holder accounts again run through the Bolero app, while accounts with two or more holders go through a KBC (Brussels) branch. Bolero adds that a client with no taxable trade since 1 June can also opt out through a KBC (Brussels) branch or KBC Live, and that a client who has already made such a trade can request opt-out only for 2027, in the course of November 2026. Clients who chose withholding and sold between 1 January and 1 June 2026 received a payment invitation on 8 September. Currency gains and crypto gains are not withheld; for crypto the client always declares the gain.

Two further services matter for dividend investors. Once you sign a mandate, KBC Bank applies treaty rates on foreign dividends, which can bring foreign withholding down to 15% and to 12.8% for France. For Germany and Switzerland the excess is reclaimed afterwards for EUR 100, and only when at least EUR 150 can be recovered. We found no pension savings (pensioensparen) product at Bolero itself.

A Bolero account is open to adults domiciled in Belgium who hold a Belgian current account to use as the counter-account. Accounts for minors are not possible, and US persons are refused: anyone with a US address, a green card, a US birthplace or US nationality. New clients apply online with itsme®, which needs a smartphone with a Belgian SIM card; existing KBC or Bolero clients apply in KBC Mobile or KBC Touch. A joint account is possible only for partners who are both known at KBC, and companies, undivided estates and partnerships open accounts with paper documents. At the first login you complete a questionnaire on investment knowledge and experience, with which Bolero judges whether complex products (it counts ETFs and trackers, options and turbos among them) are appropriate for you; Bolero asks again every four years. There is no minimum deposit.

Funding works by bank transfer only. You pay in through the 'Cash in' link to your own banking app or by transfer to KBC Bank NV with your personal structured reference; foreign currencies can be sent the same way. Transfers from foreign bank accounts are refused, and a payment without the structured reference is sent back after one bank working day.

Withdrawals in euros go only to your registered counter-account, with at most two accounts allowed, and are capped at EUR 62,000 per transfer, although several transfers in a row are possible. They can take up to three bank working days. Sale proceeds become available after settlement: one trading day in the US and Canada, two elsewhere. Withdrawals in another currency go through a form to the administration.

Bolero's price list offers free accounts in 15 currencies (its FAQ names twelve), but each currency account has to stay positive on its own: a dollar deficit is not offset by a euro balance and costs debit interest. Securities transferred in from another bank are free, and Bolero compensates the other bank's transfer fees with free brokerage, on proof of those fees: EUR 20 per transferred line worth at least EUR 500, up to EUR 400 in total.

Research is one of Bolero's strengths, and all of it is included in the price. The price list names a daily stock market newsletter, share and market analyses by e-mail, news from Reuters and ABM Financial News (spelled 'ABN' in the price list, 'ABM' on the platform page), webinars, the Bolero Academy, fundamental and technical analysis with a screener, the Idea Center and advanced screeners for ETFs and turbos. The daily newsletter 'Beurs bij 't Ontbijt' has run since 2006, and Bolero also invites clients to company visits and conferences with management.

Education comes through the Bolero Academy, webinars, guides on topics such as alerts and ETFs, and an online guide to the capital gains tax that Bolero updates regularly (last update 13 October 2026 when we read it). The material is written for self-directed investors: Bolero is an execution-only platform that receives and passes on orders and gives no personal advice.

Support is split across three teams:

• The Orderdesk (+32 2 303 33 00 in Dutch, +32 2 303 33 01 in French) takes orders and questions every trading day from 08:00 to 22:00; on Wednesdays from 08:00 to 14:00 it handles only urgent orders that cannot be placed online.
• According to the support page, the administration answers on working days from 09:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:30, on Wednesdays from 14:00 to 16:30; an FAQ gives different hours.
• The technical helpdesk (+32 16 43 25 41) is open from 08:00 to 22:00 and on Saturdays from 09:00 to 17:00.

Questions can also go by e-mail or through the contact form on the platform. Service is in Dutch and French; we found no live chat and no service in English. For an investor who trades US shares in the evening, the Orderdesk's hours to 22:00 are the practical advantage over brokers that answer only in office hours.