Bringing the money out of HK

[AliT]

@timonoj - I may be wrong, but you need sufficient funds in 1 location to maintain premier status. Maintaining 50% across two locations is not an option as far as I know.

Also, you may also need to meet some residency requirements... I am not entirely sure if I can walk into HSBC in HK and ask them for a bank account in say Zimbabwe, just because "I want one".

@shri - this is one of the benefits of HSBC Premier. The rule being ‘qualify in one, qualify in all’.

As long as you qualify for Premier in one country (no splitting), as you have eluded to, you can request a Premier account in any country where HSBC has Premier. No specific residency rules per country, however there must be a legitimate reason why you want the account. Could be a number of reasons, but typically HSBC are happy to extend your Premier banking footprint.

I will sound like a broken record, but HSBC Expat is typically the ‘cheapest’ place to qualify (£50k GBP), plus the addition of having multiple currency accounts etc. Again, just sharing my experience and how I have utilised the account options. However, each to their own and it has to suit needs.

[shri]

@AliT - You're right! I worded that incorrectly - it is not residency requirement but "legitimate reason".

With HSBC "Expat" - do the LSE stocks that you buy with HSBC UK using investdirect (?) fall under the expat GBP50K min requirement?

[AliT]

@AliT - You're right! I worded that incorrectly - it is not residency requirement but "legitimate reason".

With HSBC "Expat" - do the LSE stocks that you buy with HSBC UK using investdirect (?) fall under the expat GBP50K min requirement?

I imagine a lot of people are looking to move funds out of HK currently, so most have the legitimate reason, which is a ‘safe haven’. However, again each to their own on why they want to move their funds.

With regards to the £50k balance, I do not believe the InvestDirect balance contributes to this. However, that’s where the 2nd option of qualification is a good option which is the ability to qualify through a salary of £100k or currency equivalent. Conscious this isn’t applicable for everyone, but a consideration. I don’t believe any other market offers a salary based qualification criteria. Remember that these are separate qualification options, you don’t need both, just either or. Hope that helps.

[foxwendal]

@AliT - You're right! I worded that incorrectly - it is not residency requirement but "legitimate reason".

With HSBC "Expat" - do the LSE stocks that you buy with HSBC UK using investdirect (?) fall under the expat GBP50K min requirement?

yes the stock balance counts for the 50k. I switched my Premier base from HK to Jersey and in doing so halved the balance needed to maintain it.

[pin]

yes the stock balance counts for the 50k. I switched my Premier base from HK to Jersey and in doing so halved the balance needed to maintain it.

Can also confirm your Investdirect amount counts to your AUM for Premier with HSBC Expat.

[john_1122]

Can someone point out the main benefits of HSBC premier v. Standard Chartered priority? I checked the website, and HSBC has a long list of things, but none of them seems very important (you get a chair ad free coffee at the airport, big deal). SC doesn't really have anything, as far as the website says.

The biggest advantage of HSBC premier is that you can more easily open a bank account in another country where HSBC is present? Which means you save the time and paperwork needed to open an account. Is that really the main advantage? Then you need to pay more every time you withdraw money (if you don't use an HSBC ATM machine), so that beats the benefit.

Both HSBC premier and Standard Chartered priority give slightly better exchange rate than the normal accounts, lower fees when buying/selling stocks and funds, etc.

[TheRoadAhead]

Can someone point out the main benefits of HSBC premier v. Standard Chartered priority? I checked the website, and HSBC has a long list of things, but none of them seems very important (you get a chair ad free coffee at the airport, big deal). SC doesn't really have anything, as far as the website says.

The biggest advantage of HSBC premier is that you can more easily open a bank account in another country where HSBC is present? Which means you save the time and paperwork needed to open an account. Is that really the main advantage? Then you need to pay more every time you withdraw money (if you don't use an HSBC ATM machine), so that beats the benefit.

Both HSBC premier and Standard Chartered priority give slightly better exchange rate than the normal accounts, lower fees when buying/selling stocks and funds, etc.

Not sure about Standard but here is a parallel discussion on HSBC Premier/Expat
https://geoexpat.com/forum/155/threa...ml#post3724158

[foxwendal]

I imagine a lot of people are looking to move funds out of HK currently, so most have the legitimate reason, which is a ‘safe haven’. However, again each to their own on why they want to move their funds.

Curious, have you actually used "safe haven" as a reason and opened an HSBC account via Premier on this basis? I don't believe that would normally suffice without some other proof of usage or need for financial transactions in that country (like home ownership and collecting rent for example) in the absence of residency status there

[shri]

Curious, have you actually used "safe haven" as a reason and opened an HSBC account via Premier on this basis?

I strongly suspect the response to that reason would be "computer says no".

[AliT]

I strongly suspect the response to that reason would be "computer says no".

Yes, sorry. I probably mis-led here. I mean, everyone is looking for a safe haven to place their funds. Probably what I meant rather than actually using that term.