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Investment foe a Thai

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Hi , i`m thinking of giving some cash to my daughter ( Thai ) to invest in shares , funds etc. both Thai and international . Can this be done via one of the Thai banks , and if so ,which one is the best . 

Also , WRT shares , ETFs etc , would it be easy to buy London listed things , and how would the income be taxed ?

 

Many thanks for any replies .

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Is your daughter a minor?

 

Generally, it's pretty straightforward for a Thai person to open an account with a bank's asset management arm at any bank branch.  For example, with Krung Sri, that would be an account with Krungsri Asset Management, and with Bangkok Bank, BBL Asset Management.

 

Once the account is open you can typically buy and sell the asset manager's funds online, with money automatically being debited/credited to a linked bank account.

 

There are also independent brokerages such as KGI, Maybank Kim Eng, &c. which will allow you to buy across pretty much the whole range of mutual funds available in Thailand.

 

As for UK-listed shares, I think that would need to be done through one of the independent brokers.  Phillip's POEMS has a good reputation in this area.

 

Overseas dividend income is taxed as personal income.

 

Edit:  I'm a little bit out of date with banks' asset management companies.  There was a plan to allow individuals to buy funds from other asset management companies - not restricting you to the asset management company's own funds.  Not sure whether this has been fully implemented yet.

Edited by Oxx

  • Author

She might be classed as a minor ( under 18 ) . Would this be a problem for opening an account ? I was hoping to invest in a low cost world ETF , they seem to be the best option . I had the idea that using one of the big banks might be safer than a smaller broker .

8 hours ago, persimmon said:

I had the idea that using one of the big banks might be safer than a smaller broker

I have zero experience with Thai banks, but other banks (that I know) generally want a “custody fee”, i.e. some percentage (like 0.1%-0.25%) of the value of invested funds as a yearly fee for storing your securities, and their commission for executing trades also tend to be higher than the dedicated brokers.

 

So I would highly recommend looking for a dedicated broker service. It does seem like Interactive Brokers is available in Thailand.

 

Though my account with IB does not support exchanging to/from THB, but maybe this is different if you sign up as a Thai citizen/resident. Also, Interactive Brokers is not the most user friendly platform for beginners.

With banks you will be buying their mutual funds which have pretty high fees.

12 hours ago, persimmon said:

She might be classed as a minor ( under 18 ) . Would this be a problem for opening an account ? I

I tried opening an account for my niece who is 16 and could not - I think they said 21...  this was at a branch of kasi... 

12 hours ago, persimmon said:

I was hoping to invest in a low cost world ETF , they seem to be the best option . I had the idea that using one of the big banks might be safer than a smaller broker .

"Low cost".  Forgive my uncontrollable fits of laughter.  No such thing as "low cost" when it comes to investments here.  Take, for example, K Global Equity Passive from Kasikorn Asset Management.  It invests in iShares MSCI ACWI ETF.  The management fee is 0.32%, and there's a 0.1% brokerage fee.  This is on top of the iShares expenses at 0.32%.  

 

Buy offshore, and it's half the fees.  However, you do have the issue of foreign exchange if you wish to bring dividends or sale proceeds onshore.

 

Some of the smaller brokers, as you put it, are far larger than the bank's asset management arms (or even the banks).  Several are arms of vast, international operations.  I wouldn't have a concern going for one of these.

Maybe change the title, hopefully your daughter is not your enemy.

Enlightening discussion!

6 hours ago, rwill said:

With banks you will be buying their mutual funds which have pretty high fees.

How high?

3 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

How high?

High.

 

It varies from fund to fund, so you'd need to check out any individual fund you're interested in.  In any case, far higher than in more competitive markets.

19 hours ago, persimmon said:

She might be classed as a minor ( under 18 ) . Would this be a problem for opening an account ? I was hoping to invest in a low cost world ETF , they seem to be the best option . I had the idea that using one of the big banks might be safer than a smaller broker .

I believe you will find that no broker or investment management firm will allow a person under 18 years of age to open an account on their own.

Edited by timendres

open an etrade account, they are free with no commissions on ETFs

 

you can open joint account at Etrade,

2 hours ago, Chris.B said:

How high?

It varies by the fund.  But you pay up to 3% buying and selling.  Plus the management fees which you don't really see but affect the share price.

I know SCB at this time has its fees set lower than the max they state.

On 11/24/2021 at 4:14 PM, persimmon said:

Hi , i`m thinking of giving some cash to my daughter ( Thai ) to invest in shares , funds etc. both Thai and international . Can this be done via one of the Thai banks , and if so ,which one is the best .

Your daughter can own shares as a minor, but she cannot have a trading portfolie account in a bank in her name, as long as she's minor (under 20 years old) - I talk from experience, it has not been possible for my Thai daughter - and you cannot have shared trading accounts, i.e. in two names on an account in the banks where I checked...????

 

Perhaps a stock broker can do it, instead of a bank, you can try to ask...????

 

In my case I just have a dedicated trading account for my daughter's stocks. As there so far is no inheritance tax in Thailand, and dividend tax is settled with the 10 percent withholding tax, and SET stock holding are free from capital gain tax, it doesn't matter much, as mu daughter anyway inherit my stock holdings; you could make a last will stating that a specific account shall go to your daughter.

 

Be ware that foreign income - which I presume include gain from foreign equity held via a Thai trading platform - might result in taxation; furthermore there is a currency exchange risk when investing abroad...????

  • Author

Definitely more research needed - I`ll check out IB and Etrade . I would rather have it in daughters name to mitigate IHT . Thanks for all the replies .

Sorry about the mis-spelling in the title - my carelesnes .

Minimum age for an IBKR account is 18.  I suspect E*TRADE will be the same.

On 11/26/2021 at 10:38 PM, persimmon said:

Definitely more research needed - I`ll check out IB and Etrade . I would rather have it in daughters name to mitigate IHT . Thanks for all the replies .

Sorry about the mis-spelling in the title - my carelesnes .


With the mention of IHT It might be worth looking at a non-US based broker as well such as Swissquote. 
 

Though obviously not a major concern with your daughter there are some anomalies on IHT regarding people who are not us resident or domiciled where, US based brokers cannot release funds until estate tax is paid on any US stocks and US based funds over USD.60,000.

47 minutes ago, Orac said:


With the mention of IHT It might be worth looking at a non-US based broker as well such as Swissquote. 
 

Though obviously not a major concern with your daughter there are some anomalies on IHT regarding people who are not us resident or domiciled where, US based brokers cannot release funds until estate tax is paid on any US stocks and US based funds over USD.60,000.

(1) Swissquote (in part formerly Internaxx) continues to charge custody fees, making it relatively expensive.

 

(2) It doesn't make sense in any case holding US dividend paying stocks/ETFs given the non-resident withholding tax.

 

(3) In practical terms, mutual funds are not available through the likes of IBKR for foreigners.  (A tiny range is available if you're prepared to leap through hoops, and only with one fund provider.)

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