“Bring Your Portfolio Home”: Robinhood and Rivals Target Webull Clients after China Scrutiny

Three US retail brokerages have rolled out competing incentives aimed at pulling client assets away from Webull, after a bipartisan House committee described the brokerage's China ties as a national security risk. Robinhood, SoFi and Public are each offering a 3% match on eligible transfers made through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS), which lets investors move securities and cash between US brokerages without selling most transferable positions.

Robinhood amended the published terms of an existing transfer campaign — previously offering personalised match rates of between 1% and 3% — to give transfers originating at Webull a fixed 3% rate from 7 October. The offer runs until 16 October. Robinhood states no maximum on the bonus, which is credited once the transferred assets reach the customer's account; transferred value must generally stay at the broker for five years to avoid a proportional chargeback. CEO Vlad Tenev wrote on X that "American assets should be at America's favorite broker," while the company's own account urged Webull users to "bring your portfolio home."

Public created a separate programme covering taxable brokerage accounts and IRAs moved from Webull. Its 3% reward applies to transfers initiated by 26 October and is paid in monthly instalments over six years. Eligible transferred assets are capped at $1 million, limiting the maximum match to $30,000.

SoFi is offering the same percentage on Webull transfers into eligible self-directed taxable accounts and IRAs. Its promotion runs from 8 to 15 October and replaces the standard 1% ACATS match available under a separate campaign. SoFi caps the reward at $150,000 — equivalent to 3% of a $5 million transfer — and requires the assets to remain for five years to retain the full bonus.

Congressional scrutiny

The incentives followed a House committee report arguing that Webull remained more closely connected to China than its public positioning suggested. It pointed to the founder's voting control, a large China-based technology workforce, and the possibility that US customer data could be exposed to personnel or laws in the country. Webull's shares fell by almost 30% intraday after the report became public.

In a statement filed with the SEC, Webull said the report contained important factual errors. It maintained that US customer data and assets remain in the United States, that China-based employees cannot access sensitive customer information, and that the committee identified no misuse of data.

The campaigns differ in duration, payout schedule and maximum value, but all three brokers targeted the same competitor immediately after the congressional report — an early test of whether political scrutiny can move more than a broker's share price and turn reputational concerns into actual asset outflows.