This smaller Singapore broker offers a wide range of Asian markets for online trading. However, the service is provided by a foreign intermediary – probably Boom Securities in Hong Kong. Hence investors might as well save the extra fees and go directly to Boom.
International investors comparing brokerage accounts in Asia should be aware that Phillip Securities Hong Kong and Phillip Capital Singapore seem to be run independently of each other and offer different services.
The Hong Kong arm offers more markets online than the Singapore division, but less markets overall. International investors looking for an offshore account to trade Asian markets may do better through its sister firm or OCBC Securities in Singapore.
However, this is still one of the better multimarket brokers around and worth considering, especially if you need to invest in Japanese markets other than Tokyo which are rarely offered by international retail stock brokers (fellow Hong Kong broker Boom Securities is also worth considering for this purpose).
Boom was one of the pioneers of online stock trading in Asia. Starting out as an independent with backing from investment banker William Hambrecht, it was bought by Japan’s Monex Group in August 2010.
Boom offers an extremely good range of Asian markets for online trading at rates far lower than any American or European investor will pay for these using brokers in their home country. Following the acquisition by Monex, it can apparently now deal on the Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo stock exchanges, making it one of the few discount stock brokers outside Japan to offer stocks not listed on the Tokyo exchange.
The firm is no longer the clear leader in Asia across the markets it covers – Singapore’s OCBC Securities and Phillip Securities are worth considering as well. However, it continues to get very good feedback for customer service and ease of use, and is still one of the best multimarket stock brokers around.