Are your ETFs safe if your broker goes bankrupt? (Europe)

Investors with Interactive Brokers, Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, DEGIRO, Trading 212 or flatex often wonder what happens to their shares if the broker fails. This video doesn't go broker by broker – it gives you the general framework for how a broker failure is handled in the EU, so you can apply it to whichever broker you use. The surprising part: if you had €10 million in ETFs and your broker went bankrupt, you can get back every single share. With the same €10 million in a bank account, only €100,000 is guaranteed. You'll learn why – asset segregation, central securities depositories, investor compensation schemes (usually €20,000) and deposit guarantees – and whether it makes sense to split your portfolio across multiple brokers. 📄 Written version of the video as a blogpost: https://theeuropeaninvestor.eu/blogPo... 0:00 Intro 0:57 What happens when you trade? 1:37 Trading, Clearing, Settlement 2:01 Central Securities Depository (CSD) 3:08 Asset segregation 7:29 When assets are missing 10:30 The Investor Compensation Scheme 15:00 Bank deposits vs brokerage account 17:00 My take: should you diversify across brokers? 19:30 Summary 20:19 Legal notice