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When we first looked into Keyprivate, we were intrigued by their promise of hassle-free investing. They handle all the taxes, choose the investments, and manage everything for you.
Yet as we dug deeper, we found some concerning aspects. Not only do you need €15,000 to start, but they also keep their investment strategy quite opaque - you can't see what funds they use until after you've committed your money. They also use active management - trying to beat the market by timing their trades - despite evidence showing this strategy typically underperforms simpler, passive approaches over the long term.
Let's explore what Keyprivate really offers, so you can decide whether it's worth your trust and your money.
Pros and cons of Keyprivate
Read on to get the full low-down of Keyprivate.
The story of Keyprivate
Keytrade was created in 1998 and was one of the first online brokers in Belgium. Their offer has developed considerably since then, and they now offer a full range of banking services. In 2005, Keytrade Bank was acquired by the Crelan Group (formerly Crédit Agricole) and is now part of the Crédit Mutuel Arkéa Group.
Keytrade offers a managed portfolio service they launched called Keyprivate. Note that you can only open a Keyprivate investment plan if you are already a Keytrade Bank customer. Keyprivate is different to a Keyplan, which we reviewed separately.
How Keyprivate works
Keyprivate follows an active management strategy. Keytrade Bank monitors and makes adjustments according to market conditions. Although Keyprivate doesn't invest directly in individual shares, it still chooses an active strategy for your investments via ETFs (also known as trackers).
Active investing is when you try to beat the market's average returns by actively buying and selling investments, rather than simply holding them long-term. Think of it like being a chef who's constantly tweaking their menu versus someone who sticks to tried-and-true recipes. Active investors frequently buy and sell stocks, bonds, or other investments. For that, they have to monitor the markets closely and analyse companies in detail. And they try to time their purchases and sales based on market conditions. This is called market timing.
The main goal is to outperform passive investment strategies like buying and holding ETFs index funds. However, data shows that most active investors actually underperform the market over long periods, especially after accounting for higher fees and trading costs.
Keyprivate is accessible starting from a €15,000 investment.
How your money is invested with Keyprivate
With Keyprivate, your money is invested in a selection of 8 ETFs:
- 4 equity ETFs
- 2 bond ETFs
- 2 commodity ETFs
Unfortunately, similarly to MeDirect MeManaged, you're unable to see the actual funds until you become a customer. They do not provide ISIN codes for the funds, or any transparency on what you'll be invested in until you've deposited that initial €15,000.
Keyprivate monitors your portfolio daily. Under usual circumstances, their investment committee meets monthly to discuss potential changes and adjustments. They publish market updates and thoughts via YouTube in Dutch and French, as this video.
Also note that you will have to report your sustainability preferences when you're signing up. Nowadays, investment firms are legally required to ask you about them.
Fees
You pay a management fee
Keyprivate charges an all-in management fee of 0.91% per year, inclusive of VAT and transaction costs. There are no entry or exit fees, and custody fees are also waived. Since the platform was launched in 2016, the average total cost of using Keyprivate is 1,16% on an annual basis. This includes the total expense ratio of the funds (also known as the TER).
Every last day of the month, Keyprivate looks at the value of your portfolio and charges 1/12th of 0,91%. No positions are sold as a small cash position is held to pay the fees and taxes.
You have to pay a transaction tax
Do keep in mind that although Keyprivate doesn't charge you transaction fees, there’s a tax to pay on each transaction. This is called the Belgian transaction tax, also known as the TOB, and it's charged every time you buy or sell a security. The rules concerning the tax rate are complicated, also for ETFs. Depending on the characteristics of the fund, the transaction tax varies between 0.12% and 1.32%.
Convenience of Keyprivate
As Keyprivate is an investment service offered by Keytrade Bank, it covers a lot of the heavy lifting for you as an investor:
TOB ("beurstaks" / "taxe boursière")
There’s a tax on the transaction every time you buy or sell a security in Belgium. The rules concerning the tax rate are complicated, also for ETFs. Depending on the characteristics of the fund, the transaction tax varies between 0.12% and 1.32%.
Fortunately, Keyprivate handles the payment and declaration of the TOB for you.
Dividend tax
There’s a 30% tax on dividends that you perceive through shares that you hold. This tax is applicable to individual stocks but also to distributing funds. It's unclear how many distributing funds Keyprivate holds.
Keyprivate automatically withholds and declare the dividend tax for you.
Reynders tax
For ETFs that consist of at least 10% bonds, there is a 30% tax on the profits made when selling. For example, if you bought a bond ETF at €100 and end up selling it later for €130, your net profit will only be €21. The other €9 will go to the Belgian state through this tax.
Keyprivate handles the Reynders tax for you so you don't have to worry.
Do you need to declare your Keyprivate account to the NBB?
No need, as they are based in Belgium and part of Keytrade Bank.
Automated savings plans
Yes. You can automate your investment plan using Keyprivate. You can choose how often you decide to invest in an automated manner. It can be done per month, three months, six months or annually.
Customer support
They have a phone line you can call from Monday to Friday between 9.00 and 22.00 with any questions or queries. They also have an option to send an email. We've found them quite easy to get in touch with but they take a long time to reply to requests. You receive an automated response saying they will get back to you within two weeks.
Fractional shares
No, they do not offer this option. This means there's always some cash left on the side not working for you.
You cannot create an account on mobile
Besides a web platform, Keytrade also offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android. However you can only create a new account on a computer. Note that you can only access Keyprivate by having a Keytrade Bank account.
Ease of use: 4/5
As it offers an automated way of investing your money and uses itsme, you can create a Keyprivate fairly quickly. However, you need to have €15,000 to get started.
Setting up an account
Let's dig into the details of setting up your Keyprivate account for the first time.
Keyprivate uses itsme
You can create a new Keytrade account using itsme. You must create a Keytrade account in order to set up a Keyprivate plan. Using itsme speeds up the process of creating an account, as the old way was very slow. It even says that manual verification can take between 5 working days:
You'll have to fill in a short questionnaire to test your knowledge and experience before you can start investing. It's fairly standard and only takes a few minutes to complete in order to build your risk profile.
Start investing from €15,000
It's not a very accessible way to put your money to work as you can only access Keyprivate if you are willing to invest at least €15,000.
Does Keyprivate offer children accounts?
No, they do not. However, you can use a Keyplan if you wish to invest for your child.
Does Keyprivate offer joint accounts?
You can set up joint accounts, which is handy for couples looking to invest together.
Can I have multiple Keyprivate accounts?
No, you have one Keyprivate account available to you.
Safety of Keyprivate
As we’re dealing with our long-term savings, safety and trust is vital. For that, we have to look at the safety of Keytrade Bank.
Who is the regulator?
Keytrade is a regulated entity in Belgium. Essentially this means that the FSMA and the Belgian National Bank oversee them.
Have they had any issues with the regulator?
Based on our research, we can't find any information that Keytrade has had any issues with any regulator.
How much of your assets are protected by the investor protection scheme?
Even though they are regulated by the Belgian regulator (FSMA), Keytrade is owned by the French Arkéa. In France, the investor protection scheme protects your assets up to €70,000 through the Fonds de Garantie des Dépôts et de Résolution (FGDR). This is used as a last resort against fraud or embezzlement.
Does Keytrade Bank do securities lending?
They do not do securities lending. This means you don't risk certain types of counterparty risk.
A more transparent alternative: Curvo
We created Curvo to provide a better option for Belgian investors.
Better return through index investing
Index investing, also called passive investing, is a tried and tested method for growing your wealth. It’s based on the observation that rather than picking individual stocks and trying to buy and sell at the right time, it’s usually more profitable to invest in the stock market as a whole. Instead of finding the needle in the haystack, you buy the entire haystack.
When index investing, you invest in a type of fund called an index fund. Each index fund tracks a specific index, which is a collection of stocks with strict rules on which stocks are included and how much of each company the index contains. An index fund invests in the companies dictated by the rules of the index.
The most famous index is the S&P 500, which contains the 500 biggest American companies. Large companies such as Apple, Google or Amazon are represented in the S&P 500. The main index in Europe is the EURO STOXX 50, and the Belgian BEL 20 consists of the 20 largest companies in the country.
Ever since the first index fund was created in 1976, index investing has proven to be a great way to invest. By effectively becoming part owner of thousands of stocks across the world, index investing lets anyone earn a dividend off of the growth of the world economy.
The graph below shows the growth of the MSCI World index since 1979. A €10,000 investment in 1979 would have resulted in over €1,000,000 by the end of 2024, or an average 10.6% return per year!
In the past, all investing was active like you have with Keyprivate. In active investing, you intentionally pick certain stocks to invest in. You hope that these stocks are undervalued when you buy them, and that you can sell them with a profit later.
Index investing takes the opposite approach. Rather than picking certain stocks that you think are going to be winners, you try to invest in all stocks at once. This way, you earn a return that corresponds to the average return of the whole stock market.
And it turns out that index investing almost always beats active investing and is superior to putting your money through Keyprivate. Curvo was created to offer index investing in a simple and transparent manner.
The Curvo portfolios are built for the long term
Our portfolios are composed of globally diversified index funds, meaning you earn a piece of the growth of the global economy, and they're best suited to make the most of your savings long term. They're also tax optimised so you don't have to worry about the finer details. And they're secure, as they're under supervision of the regulator in the Netherlands (AFM).
Put your savings on autopilot
We believe that investing is an important tool for our generation to improve our financial well-being and to prepare for our future. We are building Curvo to fulfil that vision, by making good investing easy and accessible to all:
- Diversified portfolio set up for you: The best portfolio for you based on your time horizon and financial goals. Simply answer a short questionnaire and you’ll get everything set up for you.
- Automated savings plans: Through Curvo’s app you can set up a monthly contribution from €50. That means that money is automatically invested for you in your portfolio. Put your savings on autopilot!
- Fractional shares: All the money you send towards your portfolio is fully invested. No cash is left on the side.
- No TOB: Significant savings as the portfolios aren’t liable for the Belgian transaction tax (or "TOB"). This saves you between 0.12% and 1.32% for every time you buy or sell in comparison with Keyprivate.
- Sustainable investments: Your investments focus on one guiding principle: don’t invest in companies that are considered destructive to the planet. This means that sectors like non-renewable energy, vice products, weapons and controversial companies are all excluded.
- Project yourself into the future: Through Curvo you can see how much your portfolio is expected to be worth in the future. You can answer questions like “how will increasing my monthly contribution by €50, €100 or €200 affect my long-term savings?” to give a concrete idea for the “future you”.
Learn more on Curvo's offer.
Summary
After reviewing Keyprivate's features, it's clear that while it offers convenience through automated investing and tax handling, it comes with significant drawbacks. The high minimum investment requirement, active management approach (which historically underperforms the market), and lack of transparency about the investment strategy might not align with your investing goals.
If you're looking for a more accessible and transparent way to invest, you might want to consider index investing through Curvo. Starting from just €50 per month, you'll get a globally diversified portfolio of sustainable index funds, and with full visibility into your investments.