Investing in financial markets should be as common as shopping on Amazon, says Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, defending his brokerage against watchdogs, lawmakers and critics.
“Investing should be as ubiquitous as shopping online,” Tenev says in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Emily Chang. “It should just be something that people do.”
The Menlo Park, California-based company plans to
“This is what I signed up for,” says Tenev, 34. “Any time you’re causing change in society and kind of upending the status quo, it’s probably not going to be the most comfortable process.”
The company faces multiple legal and regulatory challenges, including a complaint from Massachusetts’s securities regulator alleging that the app uses “aggressive” tactics to entice young, inexperienced investors while failing to protect them from taking undue risks.
“The facts will come out and it will bear out that Robinhood is a customer-focused company that’s operating with the highest standards of integrity,” Tenev says.
In last month’s congressional hearing, some lawmakers focused on the idea that Robinhood may “gamify” investing, or make it too accessible and exciting for customers.
Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the SEC, said at his confirmation hearing that he will make it a priority to examine apps that may push users to take financial risks they don’t understand.
“I reject the idea that investing in the U.S. capital markets is gambling,” Tenev says in the interview. “We’d be happy to have the conversation, but of course we understand that investing is a serious thing.”
In fact, more people should tap financial markets, Tenev adds, saying that he’d like to see the share of American households investing rise to 95% from roughly half. Though the company scaled back plans to expand globally last year, Tenev says he could see returning to that goal in the future.
