Is there a Thai brokerage for direct investment into 2 year denominated USD Treasuries?

[uncletiger]

Hi everyone,

 

As the title says. I'm interested in investing into 2 year USD Treasuries. These appear to be the sweet spot, and are currently yielding around 4.7%. They should increase dramatically if the Fed is forced to lower interest rates. Personally I'm expecting the next round of bank failures in the US to begin sometime in April, so I'm thinking now is a good time to lock in these rates. ( I think the Thai Baht will do even worse in the coming financial crisis. ) Does anyone know of a Thai based brokerage firm that can facilitate an investment like this?

 

Thank you for any recommendations.

 

[Mike Lister]

You can buy them through banks or brokerages houses in Thailand but the fees that are charged will make buying them expensive. Buying them offshore would be a much better bet, Interactive Brokers in Luxemburg is one good choice, Saxo might be another. A third option is to buy something like Vanguard short term bond index which has an average duration of 2.6 years but again, that would need to be purchased offshore. Have you looked at the US Treasury's direct bond buying facility?

 

Thai bank brokerage houses include UOBAM and Kasikorn.

[Foxx]

On 2/27/2024 at 5:54 AM, Mike Lister said:

A third option is to buy something like Vanguard short term bond index

 

Not really.  The contents of the index change frequently as bonds reach maturity and are reinvested - potentially with lower returns.  A bond index fund will not provide the sort of high fixed return over two years that the OP is seeking.

[Foxx]

On 2/27/2024 at 5:54 AM, Mike Lister said:

Thai bank brokerage houses include UOBAM and Kasikorn.

 

UOBAM is the asset management arm of UOB.  It does not sell securities.  For that you need UOB Kay Hian Securities.  Their trading platform is known as UTrade, and you can see a list of available US Treasury Bonds at http://www.utradebond.com/en/home#list  (Enter "US TREASURY N/B" in the ISIN/Issuer search box.)  However, I don't know whether they are actually available for Thai clients.  (They are for Singapore and Hong Kong clients.)

[Mike Lister]

10 minutes ago, Foxx said:

 

UOBAM is the asset management arm of UOB.  It does not sell securities.  For that you need UOB Kay Hian Securities.  Their trading platform is known as UTrade, and you can see a list of available US Treasury Bonds at http://www.utradebond.com/en/home#list  (Enter "US TREASURY N/B" in the ISIN/Issuer search box.)  However, I don't know whether they are actually available for Thai clients.  (They are for Singapore and Hong Kong clients.)

UOB Thai customers are instructed to go through UOBAM to be referred to their current broker of choice, of which there are several choices in Thailand. However, UOB themselves will not have any dealings whatsoever with anything related to the US markets or financial institutions, they wont even settle US treasury tax refund cheques! I believe in Thailand, UOBAM refers to Kim Eng Securities which is part of Maybank.

[john donson]

you pay tax in usa at the source and now again when importing, so how much is left net ?

[timendres]

On 2/27/2024 at 5:54 AM, Mike Lister said:

Interactive Brokers

 

Have used IB for over 17 years, and I am very happy with them.

[Srikcir]

Consider using TD Ameritrade.

 

 

[Foxx]

18 hours ago, timendres said:

 

Have used IB for over 17 years, and I am very happy with them.

 

 

I have used them for a few years and was satisfied up until yesterday.  They've suddenly, without warning, blocked me from trading most of my UK investment trust holdings.  If they can't fix this, then I'll need to find a new broker.

[fceligoj]

Why don't you use Treasury Direct, an online system with the US Treasury.  It is easy and straight-forward.

[Mike Lister]

4 minutes ago, fceligoj said:

Why don't you use Treasury Direct, an online system with the US Treasury.  It is easy and straight-forward.

Probably because tax is withheld at source.