I have received little feedback on this broker. If you would like to add any comments, please email me.
This is the Hong Kong arm of one of Taiwan’s largest stock brokers. While it provides services in English, it seems to be little used by English-speaking international investors.
Polaris offers a wide range of Asian markets, mostly for broker-assisted trading. It’s not especially cheap, but the inclusion of Vietnam is noteworthy – it seems to be the only international multimarket stock broker offering this country.
I understand that to trade in Vietnam you still need to have a local account and unique investor ID, which requires a visit to the country to register in person. From the details provided, it’s unclear whether you still need to have applied for your own account and ID before trading or whether Polaris has managed to get around these restrictions – investors considering using the firm to trade Vietnam will need to get a definitive answer to this before opening an account.
| Online trading | China B, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA |
| Telephone trading | Australia, Indonesia, Japan - Tokyo, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, Vietnam |
| Typical online | min~HK$100-300 |
| Online details | China B 0.43% (min Shanghai US$30, Shenzhen HK$200), Hong Kong up to 0.5% (min HK$100), Taiwan 0.2% (min NT$500) plus NT$1,300, USA U$0.05/share (min US$40) |
| Typical telephone | min ~HK$150-850 |
| Telephone details | Australia up to 1% (min A$100), Indonesia up to 1% (min IDR300,000), Japan up to 1% (min ¥5,000), Korea up to 1% (min KRW35,000), Malaysia up to 1% (min MYR120), Philippines up to 1% (min PHP2,000) plus PHP82.5, Singapore up to 0.8% (min S$75), Switzerland up to 1.5% (min CHF15), Taiwan 0.3% (min NT$500), Thailand up to 1.5% (min THB700), UK up to 2% (min £15), Vietnam up to 2% (min VND1,800,000) plus HK$350 |
| Account fees and inactivity fees | Inactivity charges: HK$100 per year |
| Custody charges for stocks | Custody charges: China B none, Hong Kong none, Taiwan 0.1% per year, others not stated |
| Dividend charges | Dividend handling charges: China B 0.5% (min Shanghai US$5, Shenzhen HK$200), Hong Kong 0.5% (min HK$20), Taiwan 0.5% (min NT$600), others not stated |
| Corporate action charges | Corporate action handling charges: Hong Kong rights issue HK$1 per board lot plus HK$30, Taiwan rights issue NT$600, others not stated |
| Currency conversion charges | Not stated |
| Hold cash in foreign currencies | No |
| Currencies allowed | HKD, USD |
| Tax-advantaged accounts | None |
| Other products and services | Futures, FX, options |
| Minimum account size | None |
| Company location | Hong Kong |
| Further information | Go to the Polaris Securities website |
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