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Moving to Hong Kong--BofA to Citibank?

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    10k USD here is nothing. Would I bring that to Shenzhen or China, nope. But I wouldn't worry about having 10k, keep in mind where your connections are too, I would say having cash is probably only safe in Japan, HK, Taiwan, Korea?, not sure about the rest in Asia. Keep it in sight in your pocket or a backpack that you keep in your lap. Now if people see it, then you're in trouble. Lots of theft on international flights, but they usually go to watches and diamonds, and a guy recently lost a couple million worth on a flight to HK. So don't be that guy.


  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    475

    From my experience, it's safe to just start with cash. You can give it a try opening up an account once you have address proof (seriously, you will get used to this quick as HK requires address proof for any account, even credit cards). That will come probably only after you live in your new place for a month. I've had some accept my rental agreement as well.

    Another thing to note is that for US citizens they no longer allow you to have overseas investment accounts. That's what Standard Chartered told me very recently. Luckily I still have my HSBC account from a few years back and that is still OK.

    It's easy enough to open an account once you have an ID, address proof, and a little bit of cash (there are minimum balances where you can maintain to avoid service charges. You'll also want local credit cards which will also require address proof, and also income proof, so that will take a little longer (maybe a couple months of check stubs or deposits into your bank account.

    Sounds like Citibank is a great option with free international transfers within citi. If I had known I would have signed up for that. Downside is that Citi does not have as many branches here. But their ATM cards work with JetCo so for cash withdrawal you are OK. Probably the best option for you if you need to transfer monies frequently between the US and HK. I only do occasional transfers and just pay the wire fee.


  3. #13

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    Do you need to pay a fee to do ATM withdraws at other banks?


  4. #14

    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by MandM!:
    Do you need to pay a fee to do ATM withdraws at other banks?
    Depends. Some US Banks have reciprocating relationships with banks that have branches in HKG. My friends from San Francisco were always in search of China Construction Banks because they could withdraw without fees (They banked with either BofA or Chase, don't remember which one).

  5. #15

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    If it was CCB, I'd say they banked with BoA. At one point they owned 10% of CCB.


  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    If it was CCB, I'd say they banked with BoA. At one point they owned 10% of CCB.
    Yeah, it makes sense that it was BofA then.