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[tio]

I would like to invest in international shares using a Thai bank.

- Which Thai banks offer online trade of shares and which offer the best fees? I do not need any advice on shares from the bank and I would prefer the online bank to be in English.

- What is the Thai tax of dividens and sales profits?

Thank you.

[chiangmaibruce]

I'm not aware of any Thai banks that offer a trading platform for non-Thai shares, but in this forum you will find many prior threads concerning peoples' experiences with other online international share trading platforms. Go to the forum search top right this page and search using terms like "buying international shares" or similar.

The tax treatment of share dividends and capital gains is addressed in this document: http://www.pwc.com/en_TH/th/tax/assets/2012/thai-tax-2012-booklet.pdf

Edited October 20, 2013 by chiangmaibruce

[Arkady]

Thai banks are not allowed to trade in shares on behalf of clients. You need to deal with a licensed Thai securities company, several of which are subsidiaries of Thai banks or banks from other countries, e.g. the largest Thai broker Maybank Kim Eng is a subsidiary of Maybank of Malaysia. Many are unrelated to banks and I don't think this is necessary.

Individuals, foreigners included, are not liable to capital gains tax on sales of listed stocks sold through the market. Withholding tax on dividends is a flat rate of 10%. You will probably find it more convenient to trade in NVDRs (non-voting depository receipts) rather than take the trouble to buy local shares and get them registered as foreign, subject to foreign ownership room being available. NVDRs give all the same rights as regular shares except voting rights. If you hold foreign registered stock, you will find that your portfolio value can't be priced automatically because most of the foreign reg stocks are hardly ever traded. You may also miss dividends, if you don't or can't register shares as foreign owned. Foreign registered are only necessary for those who want a say in the management or managers of US pension funds who are obligated by law to vote their shares on behalf of beneficiaries.