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HSBC Hong Kong

The default stock broking service offered by HSBC in Hong Kong covers online trading in local and US equities and a small number of other major global markets by phone. Rates for international stocks are not competitive withe best best international brokers operating in Hong Kong. Details below are based on this service.

The group also has a local securities operation that offers a wider range of markets. This is clearly aimed at wealthy clients, but firm does not provide much information on minimum account sizes and fees – it may be worth investigating for investors with larger accounts.  If you’ve used this service and can provide some more information on terms and costs, feel free to send some feedback via the contact form.

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Standard Chartered Bank Securities Trading

International banking group Standard Chartered has never previously been noted for a strong interest in retail stock trading, but it entered the online trading market in Singapore in mid 2011 with what may prove to be quite a disruptive product. The new service has highly competitive rates compared with other Singapore brokers and – even more significantly – has absolutely no minimum commission on trades, making it very cost effective for smaller investors.

The range of international markets available is somewhat different to most Singapore brokers – instead of focusing on regional markets, concentrates on the major global venues. However, one notable addition is the Osaka Stock Exchange, offered by relatively few discount brokers outside Japan.

There are also no inactivity fees, custodian fees, dividend handling fees and corporate action fees, which are common for foreign stocks in Singapore. On the downside, the currency conversion charges seems to be higher than most other local stock brokers – users report a margin of around 2% on even relatively liquid currencies.

Most Singapore stock brokers welcome clients from almost anywhere in the world, but in this case it’s not clear whether Standard Chartered is willing to accept applications from non-residents. If any readers have received a definitive answer to this, please let me know through the contact form.

The lower rates for Priority Banking customers listed below require an account balance of S$200,000 or housing loans of S$1,000,000.

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HSBC UK InvestDirect Plus

While HSBC has done a reasonable job of bringing together its international banking operations to provide a more useful service for people who need accounts around the world, the same cannot be said for its stockbroking operations. The group offers services under the InvestDirect banner in a number of countries, but what’s on offer in each case differs wildly, with some being far more useful than others.

The UK offering is one of the least useful, in contrast to the extremely wide-ranging Canadian one (which is open only to Canadian residents). Not only does it offer just two markets – the UK and the US – it does so at relatively uncompetitive rates and with a striking lack of coordination.

The basic InvestDirect account, which only trades UK shares, can be linked to a current account, but the InvestDirect Plus account – which adds the ability to trade the US – requires a separate sterling cash account, which needs to funded for each trade (there’s no option to debit your current account directly). Investors can apparently also have euro and dollar denominated accounts to settle trades in those currencies.

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Finasta

Temporary note: As of November 2011, Finasta’s parent company Snoras has been nationalised by the Lithuanian authorities amid allegations of fraud and seems likely to be wound up. Finasta says it is operationally and legally separate from Snoras, will continue to operate as usual and is expecting to be sold as a going concern to a new investor. This entry will be updated with more information when the outcome becomes clearer.

Finasta is the investment and brokerage arm of Lithuanian banking group Snoras. Among other services, it offers online stock trading for a large number of markets in Eastern Europe and beyond at relatively low rates in many cases.

We don’t have any experience of using this firm or comments from other feedback yet. It’s included in the directory because it may be of interest to investors looking to invest in this region, alongside firms such as Brokerjet, Orion Securities and Swissquote. If you have any feedback, you can send us an email using the contact form.

In terms of likely investor security, while Lithuania is not a top-tier financial centre, it is a regulated market and Finasta is overseen by Securities Commission. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and has implemented the EU directive on minimum investor compensation standards, which means that the Deposit and Investment Insurance Fund provides protection of up to €20,000.

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Orion Securities

Orion Securities is a reasonably well-known investment bank and stock brokerage in Lithuania. The firm offers online stock trading for the Baltics, plus broker-assisted trading for a large number of other markets – most significantly, it covers much of Eastern Europe and rates on many are reasonably low.

We don’t have any experience of using this firm or comments from other feedback yet. It’s included in the directory because it may be of interest to investors looking to invest in this region, alongside firms such as Brokerjet, Finasta and Swissquote. If you have any feedback, you can send us an email using the contact form.

In terms of likely investor security, while Lithuania is not a top-tier financial centre, it is a regulated market and Orion is overseen by Securities Commission. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and has implemented the EU directive on minimum investor compensation standards, which means that the Deposit and Investment Insurance Fund provides protection of up to €20,000.

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Swissquote

Switzerland’s leading discount brokerage offers a reasonable range of North American and European markets for online trading and a far larger number for broker-assisted trades. As far as I know, it’s the only retail-orientated brokerage in Europe that offers markets such as Brazil or Japan’s Osaka Stock Exchange (as opposed to the more widely traded Tokyo exchange) – although Daniel Stewart, a UK institutional firm that accepts private clients, can also access these and more, while the Hong Kong-based Boom Securities and Phillip Securities are other cheaper alternatives for Japan.

The main drawback is the fees. Minimum commissions on the broker-assisted markets are so high that they are unrealistic for most retail investors. This may be understandable, since they will be traded via intermediaries. However, even the online markets are not cheap – you will do better through many other discount brokers.

However, there is no minimum account size and admin fees don’t look unbearable. So if you’re aiming to make a handful of long-term investments of at least US$5,000-10,000 each in some of the more inaccessible markets it offers, Swissquote could be worth a look. Feedback on everything except fees has generally been good.

The Hong Kong and Singapore stock brokers may be alternatives for Asia, while Brokerjet, Finasta and Orion Securities may be worth considering for Eastern Europe.

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Keytrade Bank

Keytrade – owned by Crédit Agricole – offers online trading in most European markets and in North America. Fees are reasonably good, but there are probably better stock brokerage choices available for most international investors.

What could make it very useful for some is its fund supermarket, covering around 500 funds. This is worth considering alongside the better-known TD Direct Investing International (formerly Internaxx) for anyone looking for an offshore fund supermarket that will allow you to invest in Europe-domiciled funds, especially since the lack of custody charges means it may be slightly cheaper than TDII.

Keytrade has divisions in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Since the Luxembourg arm is likely to be most popular with non-residents, the details below are taken from its terms, although there is relatively little difference between the three.

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Brokerjet

Run by Austria’s Erste Bank, Brokerjet seems to be the main multimarket account offering online stock broking across several Eastern European countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia) that caters to English-speaking clients.

The firm also offers the smaller German regional exchanges (Berlin-Bremen, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover and Munich), as well as the main Frankfurt exchange and the smaller Stuttgart one. These are not usually provided by stock brokers outside Austria and Germany, although they are probably of limited interest to most investors. Fees seem reasonable compared to what you’ll pay for most Eastern European markets through traditional stock brokers.

The platform doesn’t seem to support multiple currencies in one trading account. So you’ll have to open separate deposits if you want to be able to settle deals in Poland directly in zloty, for example, and these may carry inactivity charges. But the currency conversion charge is a fairly low 0.25% if you don’t want to go to trouble of opening multiple currency accounts for settling the occasional trade in smaller markets.

I don’t have any direct user feedback, but found customer service was extremely fast and helpful when approaching them with questions about the account. Alternatives could be the Lithuanian firms Finasta and Orion Securities or the more costly Swissquote.

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UOB Kay Hian

Singapore’s largest stock broker offers a wide range of Asian markets for online and broker-assisted trading. However, I haven’t received much feedback about this firm and my impression when looking for a Singapore stock broking account was that it probably the weakest of all the major Singapore brokers from an international perspective.

The firm doesn’t provide the same amount of information on its services and charges upfront, which is frustrating when trying to compare accounts. Customer service staff tried to be helpful, but seemed less well informed than staff at most of its rivals. Unless you have a particularly compelling reason to favour this firm, international investors looking for a Singapore brokerage account should probably consider OCBC Securities and Phillip Securities first.

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Phillip Capital Singapore

The last big remaining Singapore independent broker after Kim Eng was purchased by Maybank, Phillip Capital offers a wide range of regional markets. Notably, the line-up now includes Sri Lanka, making it the first multimarket stock broker to offer this to retail investors.

Commissions are very competitive and the fund supermarket could also interest anyone looking to invest in Singapore-based mutual funds. The main weakness is that most markets are not available for online trading – OCBC Securities is stronger in this respect, although Phillip is steadily moving more markets to its online system. Overall, Phillip and OCBC currently seem to be the two firms to consider first if you’re looking for a Singapore brokerage account.

If you’re comparing brokerage accounts regionally, be aware that the Singapore firm is run separately from Phillip Securities Hong Kong and the two divisions offer slightly different services. The Singapore arm is probably a better choice for international investors.