Interactive Investor

Buy & trade Belgian shares

From AB InBev to Umicore... our guide to investing in the Belgian market

From AB InBev to Umicore - international investing at ii

Please remember, investment value can go up or down and you could get back less than you invest. The value of international investments may be affected by currency fluctuations which might reduce their value in sterling.

About the Brussels Stock Exchange

The Brussels Stock Exchange was founded in 1801 and in 2000 merged with exchanges in Paris, Lisbon and Amsterdam to become Euronext N.V., a European-wide exchange with common trading and clearing rules for all products. Today the BEL 20 is the benchmark index of Euronext Brussels, consisting of between 10 and 20 of the largest companies traded on the stock exchange. They include the food & beverage company AB InBev, KBC bank and Healthcare giants arGEN-X and UCB among others.

Euronext Brussels is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm Central European Time (8:00 am to 4:30 pm GMT).

How to buy Belgian shares with ii

To buy Belgian shares with ii, you will need to first open an account

From your account, simply select ‘trade now’ and ‘international’ to search for the shares you want to invest in. You will be prompted at this point to sign Exchange Agreements – this lets you access live international share pricing.

Most popular Belgian shares

Below is a preview of the most purchased shares by ii customers over recent months.

Most purchased shares in H2 2023

Source: interactive investor. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” between 1 July and 31 December 2023.

Fees and charges

  • Our subscription plans start from £4.99 a month, which includes our Stocks and Shares ISA and Trading Account
  • If you are on our £11.99 a month Investor plan, we give you a £3.99 free trade credit every month – which can be used the cost of buying and selling towards international shares.
  • Additional non-US international trades cost £9.99.
  • Frequent traders can get reduced rates on non-US international shares with our Super Investor service plan.
  • There is a foreign exchange fee of 1.5% when you trade in pounds. This is reduced for transactions over £25,000. You can avoid paying this fee every time you trade by holding foreign currency in your account. Learn more

Please remember: The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The value of international investments may be affected by currency fluctuations which might reduce their value in sterling. We may receive two elements of commission in relation to international dealing - Trading Commission and our FX Charge. Please see our rates and charges for full details of the relevant costs. Foreign markets will involve different risks from the UK markets. In some cases the risks will be greater.