Standard Bank

Standard Bank Broker Overview

Standard Bank is the share trading and derivatives arm of the Standard Bank group in South Africa. It runs two separate trading operations under one brand, and the difference between them matters to anyone opening an account. Local clients trade Johannesburg Stock Exchange instruments through Standard Online Share Trading, AutoShare Invest and the Tax-free Investment account. Clients who want offshore markets trade through Webtrader, a browser based platform covering contracts for difference, spot foreign exchange, shares, exchange traded funds, exchange traded commodities, futures and mutual funds.

The two operations have different counterparties, different fee schedules and different funding routes. They are not interchangeable, and a figure published for one does not apply to the other. Both sit inside a group whose South African authorisations are confirmed on the Financial Sector Conduct Authority register, and the maximum leverage on record is 1:20.

SBG Securities (Pty) Ltd and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited

The local Johannesburg Stock Exchange business is operated by SBG Securities (Pty) Ltd, registration number 1972/008305/07. The Online Share Trading fee schedule describes it as an authorised user of the JSE Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Bank Group Limited, and an authorised financial services provider under FSP number 26691.

The offshore Webtrader business has a different counterparty. The Webtrader Terms of Business names it as The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, registration number 1962/000738/06. A client funding a Webtrader account is contracting with the bank itself rather than with the securities subsidiary.

That registration number was confirmed on 15 October 2026 against the number carried on the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's own register entry for the bank. South Africa's CIPC company search requires a registered account, so the companies register itself was not the source. A company registration shows that a company exists; it is not a financial licence.

Standard Bank Regulation and License

Two Financial Sector Conduct Authority licences sit behind the two operations, and both were confirmed on the authority's own register on 15 October 2026.

• FSP 11287, held by The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, the bank itself and the Webtrader counterparty. The register shows it as Authorized and authorised on 19 April 2005, as a Category I financial services provider, with approved categories running from shares, bonds, money market instruments and derivative instruments through to participatory interests in collective investment schemes, deposits and several insurance subcategories. No expiry date appears on the entry, because licences under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act do not carry one.
• FSP 26691, the number Standard Bank publishes for SBG Securities (Pty) Ltd, which operates the local Johannesburg Stock Exchange accounts. The register shows it as Authorized and authorised on 16 October 2007. The broker's own fee schedule describes the same company as an authorised user of the JSE Limited, which is what allows it to execute on the exchange.

Standard Bank Group Limited is separately listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, which brings exchange disclosure obligations with it. A listing and a company registration are not trading licences, and an entry confirmed on one date says nothing about conduct or solvency afterwards.

Is Standard Bank Regulated?

Yes. The licences behind both trading operations were confirmed on the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's register on 15 October 2026: FSP 11287 for the bank and FSP 26691 for SBG Securities (Pty) Ltd. What authorisation does not settle is which company a particular client is dealing with, because the local accounts and the offshore Webtrader accounts sit with different entities in the same group and their client money terms differ.

Is Standard Bank Safe?

The most important thing a prospective Webtrader client should read is clause 4.1.1 of the Webtrader Terms of Business. It states that client cash is not segregated from Standard Bank's own funds and may be used in the course of its business. The practical effect is that in an insolvency a client would rank as an ordinary unsecured creditor for the cash balance. Securities are held separately and give a secured claim, so the exposure is to cash rather than to shares.

That term sits alongside a large, long established and exchange listed banking group under confirmed conduct supervision, and the facts belong together rather than cancelling each other out. Scale and supervision bear on how likely an insolvency is; the clause decides what happens to a cash balance if one occurs.

Standard Bank Account Types

Five accounts are on record, split across the two operations.

• Online Share Trading Account. The main local account, carrying a R110 monthly account fee. The fee is waived for the first calendar month after registration and in any calendar month with three or more trades. It covers JSE shares, exchange traded funds, contracts for difference, warrants, share instalments, futures, exchange traded products and covered calls.
• Professional Traders Account. R650 per month with the same inclusions and the same waivers. This tier appears on the fee schedule only and is not marketed on the product pages.
• AutoShare Invest account. A banking app and internet banking product rather than a standalone terminal, covering over 250 JSE shares and exchange traded funds. Its own page gives a R250 minimum trade size, while the Tax-free Investment account page gives R500 for the same product. An existing rand denominated Standard Bank transactional account is required.
• Tax-free Investment account. Over 70 exchange traded funds with a R250 minimum transaction, subject to the statutory R46 000 annual and R500 000 lifetime contribution limits per investor. Exceeding them attracts penalties and punitive tax treatment.
• Webtrader. The offshore account, with no minimum amount to trade and a 20 day full platform demo. Base currencies are US dollars, pounds sterling and euros, with an optional multi currency account.

Standard Bank Spreads, Commissions and Fees

Commission is charged per product rather than through a spread markup. In one case, the broker's own pages give two different headline rates.

• Online Share Trading brokerage. The product page headlines 0.25%, while the fee schedule headlines 0.5% with a R110 minimum. Both figures are the broker's own. Standard Bank Private Banking Suite clients are quoted 0.4%, and brokerage is negotiable above R500 000 traded per month.
• Monthly account fee. The product page and the fee schedule both give R110. The Online Share Trading FAQ still quotes R50 including VAT, which reads as an older figure the broker has not refreshed.
• AutoShare Invest and the Tax-free Investment account. Brokerage of 0.15% of the value invested with no minimums, plus a 0.12% annual safe custody fee levied at 0.01% per month.
• Webtrader. An annual administration fee of 20 basis points on the daily closing value of open share positions, a 1% currency conversion fee where the instrument currency differs from the account currency, and a USD 10 ticket fee on spot foreign exchange trades below the ticket fee threshold. Share and exchange traded fund trades carry a minimum charge per trade, for example EUR 20 on a small European share order.
• Movement and administration charges. Early settlement of unsettled share sale proceeds costs 0.25% with a R39.90 minimum including VAT. A withdrawal to a bank account costs R4.56 including VAT. Transferring a portfolio out costs R62.23 per holding in full, or R113.76 per holding in part.

VAT applies to the applicable fees for South African residents. The public rate pages direct registered clients to the trading platform itself for current per instrument spread, commission and margin tables.

Standard Bank Leverage

The maximum leverage on record is 1:20, read from the Webtrader commissions and margin schedule. The local accounts are cash investment products apart from the geared instruments the Online Share Trading account carries, such as contracts for difference, warrants, share instalments and futures.

Standard Bank Trading Platforms

All of Standard Bank's trading software is its own. There is no MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 or cTrader anywhere in the offering.

• Standard Online Share Trading. The local web platform with a tablet and mobile app, carrying charts back to 1994, watchlists, news and market data.
• ViewPoint. A low bandwidth web platform for market data, trading and portfolio management. The basic package is free with 15 minute delayed prices; live Level 1 is R175.00 and live Level 5 is R195.00 per month, both including VAT.
• Webtrader. The offshore platform, browser based with no download or installation, available on web and mobile, with one click trading, real time foreign exchange prices and configurable workspaces.

Standard Bank has announced a change here that anyone opening a Webtrader account should know about. The Webtrader sign in page carries a banner stating that Webtrader has moved to Shyft and linking to the Shyft site, the Shyft site itself states that Standard Online Share Trading is now on Shyft, and the share trading hub lists the Shyft App among its products. No closing date for the existing platforms is published, so this reads as an announced move rather than a completed one.

Standard Bank Deposits and Withdrawals

Funding runs on two separate rails and the routes do not overlap. There is no card, cryptocurrency or third party electronic wallet option anywhere in the offering.

Offshore Webtrader accounts are funded by international bank transfer in US dollars, pounds sterling or euros to the correspondent bank details on the funding page, or through Shyft, Standard Bank's own currency conversion app. Funds must come from an account in the client's own name at another bank. Terms of Business clause 10.2 allows up to 5 business days from receipt before money is at the client's disposal, and money received after 3pm South African time or on a non business day counts as received the next business day.

Local accounts are funded from a South African bank account by internet banking, telephone banking or an ATM, or through the top up feature in the banking app. Transfers from a non Standard Bank account may take up to three business days.

Withdrawals follow the same split. A local withdrawal costs R4.56 including VAT and the desk aims to transfer settled funds within 24 hours of the request, although share sale proceeds are only available five business days after the sell trade unless early settlement is paid for. A Webtrader withdrawal cannot be requested online at all: clause 10.4 requires a telephone call or an email to the call centre during operating hours, with a 15:00 South African time cut off, and clause 10.5 allows up to 5 business days from approval for the money to arrive. No broker withdrawal fee is published for Webtrader, but clause 10.8 reserves a currency conversion fee on payments to a client bank account, and the commissions schedule publishes that fee as 1.0%.

The broker's own pages disagree on withdrawal currency. The funding page offers three base currencies and a multi currency account, while the withdrawal page states that the platform is US dollar based and that all refunds and payments are made in US dollars, to be converted by the client's own bank at that bank's rate and charges.

Standard Bank Support

The share trading desk publishes one South African number, 0860 121 161, and one email address, securities@standardbank.co.za, consistently across the local and offshore product pages. The site gives two different international numbers for the same desk on different pages, so neither should be treated as definitive. No operating hours are published for this desk, although the group contact directory publishes hours for several other Standard Bank desks.

Complaints have their own published route: the Complaints Resolution Centre first, on 0860 101 101 or complaint.resolutioncentre@standardbank.co.za, with a reference number and a named case manager within 24 hours; escalation to ComplaintsEscalations@standardbank.co.za second; and the FAIS Ombud, the National Financial Ombud Scheme of South Africa, the Information Regulator, the National Consumer Commission or the National Credit Regulator third.

Standard Bank Pros and Cons

Strengths. A large, exchange listed South African banking group behind the accounts, with two Financial Sector Conduct Authority licences confirmed on the regulator's own register and with named operating companies and registration numbers published on its own pages. A broad local offering, from a tax-free exchange traded fund account through to geared JSE instruments, with per product fee schedules published in full. An offshore platform with no minimum trade size and a 20 day demo.

Limitations. Client cash on the offshore platform is not segregated from the bank's own funds. Webtrader withdrawals cannot be made online and must go through the call centre within operating hours. The broker's own pages contradict each other on local brokerage, on the monthly account fee, on the AutoShare Invest minimum trade size and on the withdrawal currency. There is no third party platform for anyone who wants MetaTrader, and the Webtrader sign in page announces a move to a different product.

Standard Bank Review and Assessment

Standard Bank suits an investor who wants JSE exposure from inside an existing banking relationship, or an established client who wants offshore markets without opening an account at an unfamiliar firm. It is not built for a leveraged retail foreign exchange trader: the platform choice is proprietary, the leverage on record is modest and the account structure is an investment one.

Two things are worth settling before funding an account. The first is which of the two operations you are dealing with, because the counterparty, the fee schedule and the funding route all change between them. The second is clause 4.1.1 of the Webtrader Terms of Business, which a client agrees to on signing.