Opening an account with Interactive Brokers was easy and fast. It only took a few minutes to fill in the forms online.

Uploaded a pic of  my US passport to verify my name and birthday, and a copy of my Schwab brokerage account statement to verify my Thai address. Security codes were  received using Dtac local number.

Completed the process at 10am yesterday , at 11:30pm last night an email informed me I have a new account.

The account does not allow beneficiary designation. There is a $10 monthly fee, minus commissions if any. The fee is waived if you keep a balance over $100K.

Just like a checking account, I can use the ABA number and the account number to receive payments such as SSA, pensions, IRS refund etc..International wire transfer to Bangkok Bank can be initiated online. First withdrawal of the month is free and it can be an international wire transfer.

 

 

Edited May 3, 20197 yr by Thailand J

I tried it too but the webpage suddenly stopped working ...does IB allow to have your account under a HK jurisdiction even though you are living in Thailand and you are a citizen of a European country?

Sorry, I don't know about IB-HK.

I know  Schwab now has a Singapore office, a new client in Thailand will have to open an account from that office disregard of his citizenship.

 

A brokerage account may or may not work with Transferwise. I did a comparison before, a free SWIFT from US is better than Transferwise at higher transfered amount, and at lower amount the difference was small.

I don't know how much Chase will charge as intermediary with IB. It was only $2 with Vanguard.

 

 

Today I ordered a transfer into BKKBThBK as a test at 10:50am local time, money arrived at 1:29 pm local time...within 3 hour!

I used the default Chase Bank as intermediary, the fee was $2 as I expected..same as that with Schwab. Of course the usual 500B Bangkok Bank receiving fee. Good deal compared to TW.

One security code via SMS to set up the bank info and another to transfer money, easy. First transfer of the month is free, $10 each after that. MOnthly auto transfer can be set up .

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 20197 yr by Thailand J

Fees look relatively high for the amount. USD 55.54 on USD 7k. But all relative. Wouldn't bother me a few 10's of USD extra but would some LOL 

 

So might not suit lower amounts given the fee

 

Looks clear simple process though.

 

Cheers for sharing ????

On 5/23/2019 at 4:42 PM, Thailand J said:

Today I ordered a transfer into BKKBThBK as a test at 10:50am local time, money arrived at 1:29 pm local time...within 3 hour!

I used the default Chase Bank as intermediary, the fee was $2 as I expected..same as that with Schwab. Of course the usual 500B Bangkok Bank receiving fee. Good deal compared to TW.

One security code via SMS to set up the bank info and another to transfer money, easy. First transfer of the month is free, $10 each after that. MOnthly auto transfer can be set up .

 

Hi, Interesting, hope you are still around as I would have few questions.

 

1) Did they ask you for an "employer name"? I see it is one of the requirement on their website for "other countries"

2) I live in Thailand but my money is in Euro, is it possible to fund this account using an european bank as a recipient? I know for IB Europe you can use a branch of Citi in Germany not sure about the IB for Thailand.

 

That's important because if i have to transfer first my euros to a non UE bank it will cost me big in fees.

 

Thanks

Edited September 12, 20196 yr by prb

7 hours ago, prb said:

Hi, Interesting, hope you are still around as I would have few questions.

 

1) Did they ask you for an "employer name"? I see it is one of the requirement on their website for "other countries"

2) I live in Thailand but my money is in Euro, is it possible to fund this account using an european bank as a recipient? I know for IB Europe you can use a branch of Citi in Germany not sure about the IB for Thailand.

 

That's important because if i have to transfer first my euros to a non UE bank it will cost me big in fees.

 

Thanks

I've worked with IB for many years and can answer your questions based on my experience: 1) For every IB account application in Asia I've seen, IB has wanted an employer name, with the exceptions being if the person was retired.  2) yes, IB will let you fund your accounts using their European correspondent bank as the recipient.  Doesn't matter if you are located in Thailand.

 

Hope that helps.

3 hours ago, Misty said:

I've worked with IB for many years and can answer your questions based on my experience: 1) For every IB account application in Asia I've seen, IB has wanted an employer name, with the exceptions being if the person was retired.  2) yes, IB will let you fund your accounts using their European correspondent bank as the recipient.  Doesn't matter if you are located in Thailand.

 

Hope that helps.

Misty,

 

I've been looking for another trading platform and from the demo I tried recently IB looks OK.

 

Other criteria I'm looking for include:

 

- being able to open joint accounts, which I believe they can facilitate. I assume that's OK even if different nationalities? eg Thai wife and UK spouse as long as we both have Thai TINs

 

- being able to borrow against the portfolio, which I believe is possible via a portfolio margin account and in joint names as long as over USD 110k

 

But I wasn't aware of the requirement you mentioned about needed to being working or retired. How do IB define retired? and how would they want us to evidence that?

 

In our case we are under official retirement age for pensions etc. But we "retired early" and live off investments, so what would they be looking for?

 

Cheers

Fletch ????  

Hi Fletc

9 hours ago, fletchsmile said:

Misty,

 

I've been looking for another trading platform and from the demo I tried recently IB looks OK.

 

Other criteria I'm looking for include:

 

- being able to open joint accounts, which I believe they can facilitate. I assume that's OK even if different nationalities? eg Thai wife and UK spouse as long as we both have Thai TINs

 

- being able to borrow against the portfolio, which I believe is possible via a portfolio margin account and in joint names as long as over USD 110k

 

But I wasn't aware of the requirement you mentioned about needed to being working or retired. How do IB define retired? and how would they want us to evidence that?

 

In our case we are under official retirement age for pensions etc. But we "retired early" and live off investments, so what would they be looking for?

 

Cheers

Fletch ????  

Hi Fletch,

 

The IB institutional application asks a number of questions regarding employment, where funds come from etc.  They may have a somewhat different application or requirements for individual investors. 

 

Depending on the time of day one of their offices will be open.  Right now Hong Kong staff should be there - give them a call, ask for the account opening department - they should be able to help you.

 

Cheers

9 hours ago, Misty said:

Hi Fletc

Hi Fletch,

 

The IB institutional application asks a number of questions regarding employment, where funds come from etc.  They may have a somewhat different application or requirements for individual investors. 

 

Depending on the time of day one of their offices will be open.  Right now Hong Kong staff should be there - give them a call, ask for the account opening department - they should be able to help you.

 

Cheers

Lot of useful infos, Thanks.

 

I wont start the process before several weeks as I have to terminate my fiscal residency in France before and that means starting first to move funds out from brokers and bank account that don't accept non residents.

 

I was thinking as an alternative solution to open with IB Europe first as i am still resident there and then ask them to transfer it to IB LLC.

 

But this infos made me think that it could be harder than open straight the account in Thailand.

 

https://ibkr.info/article/936

 

But i may be wrong, if anyone has experience or input about transfers of IB accounts from Europe to SEA, it would be nice.

Edited September 13, 20196 yr by prb

Resurrecting the thread:

Is it possible to transfer to an IB account funds from received by selling a property, without having a work permit/retirement visa in Thailand?.

 

Thanks

The question is not with IB, you need to check with your bank.

Does IB have a Thai bank account so it would be possible to deposit (from my Thai account) into an  IB account without  an international wire transfer to the US?.

 

Thanks

 

I don't think so. IB has different accounts for different currencies Thai bath is not one of them.

On 5/3/2019 at 11:16 AM, Thailand J said:

Uploaded a pic of  my US passport to verify my name and birthday, and a copy of my Schwab brokerage account statement to verify my Thai address.

 

If memory serves, IB has at least two different kinds of accounts, and perhaps more. But the two I'm aware of are U.S. based ones that are eligible to hold and trade in U.S. mutual funds, etc, vs. international accounts that are not eligible to trade in U.S. mutual funds.

 

Given that you apparently listed Thailand as your residence on the IB application, what type of account did you open with them in terms of where they hold the account?

 

My IB account is US based in USD. It comes with a US bank account at UMB ,United Missouri Bank. I call a US phone number for customer service. This is what's on 1099:

There are two types of IB accounts: LITE and PRO. The LITE account does not have a minimum to open and has no maintenance fees.

Just like Fidelity and Schwab, account holders with non-US addresses are not allowed to trade mutual funds. ETFs and stocks are just fine for me. My account is about 13 months old, it is up 16% YTD and 26% in 1 yr, invested in AMZN, QQQ and VGT. QQQ is a Nasdaq-100 index fund, VGT is about the same but more heavy on APPL and MSFT.

 

 

Hi folks, I am a Canadian non-resident currently on a volunteer visa and switching to a retirement visa this year  I'm trying to open an IB account here in Thailand and have a couple questions:

 

1. In the application I put tax residency as Thailand. It then asks for a Tax Identification Number. I don't have a tax ID # so IB inserted N.A. for now in my application. What have other put for the tax ID #? Do you have to get a tax ID here and pay taxes on capital gains from stocks?

 

2. For dividend stocks, does IB automatically withhold the tax based on Country of citizenship (Canada) and tax treaty Thailand has with that country? (For Canada non-resident it is a 15% withholding tax on dividends)

 

thanks,