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Opening Singapore / Offshore Account Remotely from HK

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  1. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hkemail888:
    Superb! Great explanations thank you!
    seems like I wasn’t the only one not sure about this lol
    so you guys would go for hsbc or Stan chart in Singapore? It seems those are the most mentionned ?
    I haven't looked into it, but seems like HSBC SG doesn't allow for UK sharedealing. You can however get this through HSBC Expat, which I'm pretty sure I have written about before.

    DBS SG (and HK) also allow for international share dealing, but they have custody fees.

    The other option, if you just want brokerage is to open an account with Swissquote Luxembourg.
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  2. #32

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    Oh wow I just went to Singapore SCB website it says you can access “15 stock exchanges around the world”, that’s much more options than our HK banks offer!


  3. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hkemail888:
    Oh wow I just went to Singapore SCB website it says you can access “15 stock exchanges around the world”, that’s much more options than our HK banks offer!
    Yes it all good looks on paper but unfortunately they do not have a complete offer on those markets. For example their offer on German XETRA is extremely limited with major ETFs missing like IWDA or IS3N (known also as EIMI or EMIM on other exchanges), although they can be replaced with the same on Euronext Amsterdam at SCB SG, other ETFs which are available only on German XETRA VWCE (VWRA in USD is available) are missing.

    I agree that no annual custody fee is fantastic, I don't know any other reputable bank in a stable jurisdiction like Singapore that would have no custody fees. Although the trading platform could be more user friendly, like SwissQuote Luxembourg for instance which is also great option. The maximum annual fee of EUR 180 is nothing for wealthy investors and the trading fees of 0.1% are also attractive. The only catch with SQ Luxembourg is that if you don't trade for more than 24 months they will charge you inactivity fee as below:

    24 months 0.1875% (min. € 100)
    36 months 0.3125% (min. € 200)
    60 months 0.4375% (min. € 300)
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  4. #34

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    Some random data points which may be useful:


    • HSBC HK to SCB HK USD transfer is free and done same day.
    • SCB HK USD transfers to another HK bank on the other hand are USD22.
    • HSBC HK to SCB SG USD transfer was HKD50 (charged to HK account) and was same day.
    • SCB HK to SCB SG USD transfer is free for priority banking customers, but they way they do it is deduct the amount first and then refund you the next day. You need to make sure you have enough money in your account to cover the transfer fees. Fees are taken out and refunded in USD. In my case I wanted to transfer USD1k. On SCB SG side I got USD976, so USD24 for in fees. This got refunded to my SCB HK USD account the next day
    • For share trading, the platform is better than SCB HK and HSBC's platforms (HK and InvestDirect), I also find it better than Swissquote Lux (which I have some major issues with, for another day). Available via app or online. Has the ETFs I intend to trade with.
    • In terms of placing your order the order shows that you get charged both the commission (0.2%) as well as UK stamp duty (something like 0.5%). I did call SCB about this, as ETFs should not have stamp duty. Was told this would be refunded afterwards (they also said that I would get charged 7% GST). I placed the order and got charged for both commission and stamp duty, but not for GST. Waiting to see if the stamp duty gets refunded. To follow up with SCB if not.
    • Speaking for SCB support for online trading, the telephone support is a bit hit and miss.
    • Figuring out how to transfer shares into SCB. Seems the transfer in form can be done online.


    Hope this helps.

    EDIT to @dxb, thanks for your post. Swissquote Lux fees are not bad, even with the monthly charge, but the inactivity fee sucks. But remember its just a brokerage, with a banking licence (similar to Saxo in Denmark).

    You do have HSBC Investdirect, but only for UK and US shares, but their commissions are not bad and no custody fees.

    There is also DBS (HK). It does have custody fees but they are capped at HKD2.5k (I think that's yearly). Only problem their trading commissions are much higher than SCB.

    I did look at Keytrade bank in the past, but there wasn't a whole lot of information about it, so discounted it.

    Other banking option would be
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  5. #35

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    Just use Transferwise & you will get DBS Sing account.


  6. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by resurection:
    Just use Transferwise & you will get DBS Sing account.
    Do you care to elaborate? Your post is amazingly cryptic.

  7. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Do you care to elaborate? Your post is amazingly cryptic.
    Transferwise Borderless Account is a DBS account in Singapore. But Borderless accounts aren't available to HK residents.
    pin likes this.

  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by mrgoodkat:
    Transferwise Borderless Account is a DBS account in Singapore. But Borderless accounts aren't available to HK residents.
    Ah OK got you, yeah at the moment no Transferwise Borderless accounts in HK which sucks.

    BTW by way of update got my SCB online contract note and to confirm wasn't charged stamp duty.

    So total commission is 0.2%.
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  9. #39

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    Just FYI a few points.

    - Transferred some HKD from SCB HK to SCB Sin (so I can make some HK trades via SCB SG). Transfer fee was HKD370! I do get this credited back but SCB does charge quite a bit for TTs.

    - I tried to transfer some LSE ETFs from IB to SCB Sin and based on the Hardwarezone forums this was possible, however I got this response back from IB:

    "In regards to your transfer request on [ ] shares of [ ], please note that since Standard Chartered hold this positions in "CREST" while we hold in "Euroclear", and given that even though we could facilitate "cross-border" transfer for you but Standard Chartered claimed they do not facilitate "cross-border" transfer, we were unable to deliver the positions over to their end. In short, your transfer was unable to be processed due to "clearing issues". Apologies for not notifying ahead of time as we were advised that the receiving end would explain this to you. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us."

    So no go to buy shares on IB and then transfer them to SCB SG for LSE ETFs.

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  10. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    "In regards to your transfer request on [ ] shares of [ ], please note that since Standard Chartered hold this positions in "CREST" while we hold in "Euroclear".
    Interesting... according to Wikipedia euroclear owns CREST
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRES...es_depository)
    pin likes this.