Al Rajhi Capital vs comdirect — which broker is better?

Pros

• Licensed by Saudi Arabia's CMA since 19 June 2007 (licence 07068-37) and shown on the CMA's list of financial market institutions for dealing, custody, advising, arranging and fund management
• Wholly owned by Al Rajhi Bank, founded in 1957 and listed on the Saudi Exchange under 1120; Al Rajhi Capital's 2025 annual report includes an independent auditors' report
• One app for Saudi shares, international brokerage and Al Rajhi funds from SAR 10, rated 4.6 from 217,057 ratings on the Saudi App Store (read on 2 November 2026)
• Wide foreign reach in the published schedule: the US, seven Gulf and MENA exchanges, 14 European markets and 11 in Asia-Pacific and Turkey, plus sukuk
• US shares via the IBKR route at USD 0.01 per share with a USD 1 minimum per order
• Sharia governance in the provider's own words: a named three-member Shariah Board, a published Sharia list of Saudi Main Market companies, and Murabaha financing for Saudi shares that it describes as complying with Shariah
• Human help on the ground: 16 offices in the Kingdom, walk-in investment centres and a phone trading desk

Cons

• No published commission for Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) trades on the pages we read; the Saudi Exchange page linked for ETF and rights commissions returned an access error, so the home-market price is unknown
• High minimums abroad: EUR 18 per European order at 0.18% plus 0.05% a year in custody, AED 130 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and VAT on top of every commission
• Online opening only with an Al Rajhi Bank ATM card; otherwise, and for international brokerage, a visit to an investment centre in Saudi Arabia
• Aimed at Saudi residents: we found no offer for other countries, and online opening and the international-brokerage FAQ both route through an Al Rajhi Bank account
• No general investor compensation scheme found in Saudi Arabia, and client-asset segregation is not described on the pages we read
• Real-time prices on the international platform cost extra at an unstated fee, and education material is thin

Pros

• The broadest product range of the three German incumbents: shares, ETFs, funds, bonds, certificates, warrants, CFDs and direct Eurex options and futures in one depot
• Excellent platform stack — ProTrader for real-time multi-monitor trading, O&F-Trader with a margin simulator, CFD Trader with a free demo, plus a documented REST API and stock3, TraderFox and Quant4you integrations
• Cash sits behind Commerzbank AG: statutory EdB cover of EUR 100,000 plus the voluntary BdB Einlagensicherungsfonds protecting private individuals up to EUR 3 million, with direct ECB supervision as a significant institution
• Custody is now free for depots opened from 15 July 2026, and the second depot has always been free
• Cheap Eurex derivatives pricing: EUR 1.50 per single-stock option contract and EUR 1.50 for the MicroDAX future, each with a EUR 9.90 execution minimum
• Fully tax-simple for German residents — automatic Abgeltungsteuer withholding, Freistellungsauftrag, loss-offset pots and free annual tax certificates
• A EUR 1.00 Pure Depot exists for investors who only need gettex and savings plans, and a 15% Viel-Trader discount rewards 125+ trades per half-year

Cons

• Standard commissions are among the highest in the market: EUR 4.90 plus 0.25% of order value, minimum EUR 9.90 and maximum EUR 59.90, plus a EUR 2.50 venue fee — roughly four times what flatex charges on a EUR 10,000 order
• Savings plans cost 1.50% of the amount invested per execution. On a EUR 500 monthly ETF plan that is EUR 7.50 a month, or EUR 90 a year, where Consorsbank and flatex both charge zero
• Customer service is the standout failure: 1.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 4,117 reviews, dominated by complaints about extremely long telephone hold times and unhelpful responses, despite the advertised 24/7 desk
• The advertised EUR 3.90 per trade applies only to new depot customers for 36 months, after which the full tariff returns — the headline number is not the price you end up paying
• The cheap Pure Depot is heavily restricted: gettex only, no off-exchange trading, no derivatives, no IPOs, no ProTrader, no securities credit, no joint or second depot
• No spot cryptocurrency and no wallet — exposure is limited to crypto certificates and ETNs, and foreign trades settle at Commerzbank reference rates rather than a published percentage markup; comdirect's own cost disclosure estimates the conversion at 1%