Vanguard, the world’s second-largest investment company after BlackRock, once ran a direct investment platform for German clients called Vanguard Invest. It no longer does.
Vanguard closed Vanguard Invest to German private investors, and the platform has been shut since 2024. Vanguard remains one of the largest fund managers in the world, and its ETFs are still widely available to German investors. What disappeared was the platform, not the products.
Want to know what happened to Vanguard Invest, and how to buy Vanguard funds in Germany today? We’ve got you covered.
Is Vanguard still available in Germany?
The answer has two parts, and mixing them up is the source of most confusion.
The platform: no. Vanguard announced on 7 November 2023 that it would discontinue Vanguard Invest for German private investors, two years after launching it. Existing clients had to sell or transfer their holdings, and the portal closed for good in April 2024. If you still hold a Vanguard Invest account today, you do not: it no longer exists.
The funds: yes. Vanguard continues to operate in Germany as an asset manager. Its ETFs trade on Xetra and other European exchanges, and any German broker that gives you access to those exchanges gives you access to Vanguard.
Vanguard justified the decision by saying the platform had not achieved its purpose of broadening access to investment markets in Germany, since user numbers did not indicate that goal had been met.
Vanguard’s announcement to German clients, November 2023.
What happened to Vanguard Invest clients
Clients were given two routes at the time:
- Sell their positions on the Vanguard Invest portal, withdraw the proceeds to their bank account and start again elsewhere;
- Transfer their holdings in kind to another broker, keeping the securities themselves rather than turning them into cash.
The second route was the better one for most people, and the reason is worth remembering for any future platform closure: selling crystallises a taxable gain, while an in-kind transfer does not. Vanguard remained responsible for issuing tax certificates covering 2023, whichever route the client took.
The portal stayed open until April 2024 in a restricted form. There is nothing left to do now, so if you are reading this as a former client, the practical question is simply which broker you use going forward.
Is Vanguard UK an option?
No. Vanguard’s platform for private investors in the UK is restricted to people with a UK address, as stated on Vanguard’s own site. Living in Germany rules it out, and this has not changed since the German closure.
The same applies to Vanguard’s US platform, which is for US residents. If you want a Vanguard-run account, there is currently no route to one from Germany, which is why the rest of this article focuses on brokers that give you the funds instead.
How to invest in Vanguard products from Germany
German investors buy Vanguard products the same way they did before Vanguard Invest existed: through distribution partners, online brokers and direct banks.
In practice this means buying Vanguard’s UCITS ETFs on an exchange, most often Xetra, through whichever broker you use. Popular choices among German investors include the FTSE All-World (VWCE and its distributing twin VWRL), the FTSE Developed World and the S&P 500 UCITS ETF. Almost every broker on this list carries them, and many include Vanguard ETFs in their free or discounted savings plans (Sparpläne), which is the feature worth comparing if you invest monthly.
Two practical points when choosing where to buy:
- Savings plan coverage and cost. Several German brokers offer Vanguard ETFs in monthly savings plans free of charge or for a small flat fee. Over years of contributions, that matters far more than the headline trade commission;
- Whether the broker is a German tax agent. A German broker settles the Abgeltungsteuer for you automatically. A foreign broker does not, which leaves you to declare it yourself. More on this below.
Where to buy Vanguard funds in Germany
You can still access Vanguard’s funds through other online brokers. Here are our top picks:
52% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
69-80% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
Investing involves risk of loss.
Terms apply, seek guidance if necessary. When you invest, your capital is at risk.
Brokers comparison table
| Broker | Minimum deposit | Supported products | Vanguard products? | Accepts incoming transfers? |
| Interactive Brokers | €0 | Stocks, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, currencies, options, warrants and futures | Yes | Yes |
| eToro | $50 | Stocks, ETFs, crypto and CFDs | Yes | Limited (US clients from US brokers only) |
| Scalable Capital | €1 (€1,000 for the robo-advisor) | Stocks, ETFs, funds, derivatives, commodities and crypto ETPs | Yes | Yes |
| XTB | €0 | Stocks, ETFs, and CFDs on stocks, forex, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies | Yes | Yes |
| DEGIRO | €1 | Stocks, funds, ETFs, futures, leveraged products, bonds and warrants | Yes | Yes |
| Lightyear | €1 | Stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and money market funds | Yes | Yes |
Disclaimer: investing involves risk of loss. Transfer policies and fees vary by broker and by the market your securities are held in, so confirm directly before starting one.
How Vanguard ETFs are taxed in Germany
This barely mattered while Vanguard Invest handled it for you. With a broker of your choosing, it does, and it is the part most comparisons skip.
- Abgeltungsteuer. Investment income is taxed at a flat 25%, plus the solidarity surcharge and church tax where applicable, giving an effective rate of roughly 26 to 28%;
- Teilfreistellung. Equity funds, meaning those holding at least 51% shares, receive a 30% partial exemption, so only 70% of the gain or distribution is taxable. A global equity ETF such as the FTSE All-World qualifies;
- Vorabpauschale. Accumulating funds are subject to an annual advance lump sum, designed so that reinvesting investors do not defer tax indefinitely. It is calculated from a base rate set each year and is capped at the fund’s actual gain, so no Vorabpauschale is due in a year the fund falls. Amounts paid are credited against the tax due when you eventually sell;
- Sparerpauschbetrag. The annual allowance is €1,000 per person, or €2,000 for jointly assessed couples. Submit a Freistellungsauftrag to your broker so it is applied automatically rather than reclaimed later.
The practical consequence for choosing a broker: a German provider withholds and settles all of this for you, while a foreign broker does not, leaving you to declare it in your Anlage KAP. Neither is wrong, and the foreign broker may still be cheaper, but the admin is a real difference that fee tables do not show.
Rates and allowances change. Confirm the current position before acting, and consult a Steuerberater if the amounts are significant.
Bottom line
Vanguard Invest closed to German private investors in 2024, two years after it launched. Vanguard itself did not leave Germany: its ETFs remain available through essentially every broker serving German investors, and they are among the most widely held funds in the country.
So the question is no longer what to do about the closure. It is which broker you use to buy the same funds. The brokers above all give you access to Vanguard products, and they differ mainly on three things: the cost of a savings plan if you invest monthly, the currency conversion fee if you buy funds priced outside the euro, and whether they handle German tax for you.
Each has trade-offs, so pick the one that fits how you actually invest.
Disclaimer: this article is for information only and is not investment or tax advice. When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested.
