Opening an account to trade on the SET

[bazmlb]

This article is only my personal experience and is in now way recommendations on trading or even if you should trade shares or indexes.

I am a beginner, I have done a few courses in stock analysis, both technical and quantitative.

The first step was opening an account to trade, I am using www.settrade.com as my first step in selecting a broker, which for me I have chosen SCB.

Here you will find a list of brokers available to chose from http://www.settrade.com/C00_BeginnerRedirect.jsp?txtPage=beginnerZone/th/beginner-broker-list.html

Next step was, as I do not have a SCB bank account was to open a account to use to act as a cash balance account for trading, where any purchases can be funded from. You can open an SCB account from the SCB link in the brokers list above.

At this point I have applied for a trading account and will update this thread once the account is approved.

[Ludacris]

SCB would be my absolute last choice to open a brokerage account with. They are well known for not wanting to deal with foreigners. To see what I mean ask them about a credit card, mortgage, or safe box next time you're there. They offer those services for Thai's but they are impossible or next to impossible to get as a foreigner.

There are many other Thai banks that are much more willing to deal with foreigners, and I would be much happier paying my commission fees to a company that actually wants my business.

As a newbie investor, feel free to ask for advice from people on this board that have had decades of experience in Thailand. There's lots of people around who are willing to help.

[bazmlb]

SCB would be my absolute last choice to open a brokerage account with. They are well known for not wanting to deal with foreigners. To see what I mean ask them about a credit card, mortgage, or safe box next time you're there. They offer those services for Thai's but they are impossible or next to impossible to get as a foreigner.

There are many other Thai banks that are much more willing to deal with foreigners, and I would be much happier paying my commission fees to a company that actually wants my business.

As a newbie investor, feel free to ask for advice from people on this board that have had decades of experience in Thailand. There's lots of people around who are willing to help.

Thanks, thats just the type of replies I am looking for, todays experience with them was painful, I bank primarily with Kbank, what are Ksecurities like?

[isawasnake]

I looked into this for a while. I chose the Thai mutual fund route, so did not need a broker after all, but I had it narrowed down to Bualuang securities and Tisco. I would look into both and see which one you are more comfortable with. I liked Phatra too myself, but they need too much initial deposit for my blood. KGI securities online trading has also been recommended, although I never tried it.

I am not a big SCB fan either btw

Edited January 16, 2014 by isawasnake

[bazmlb]

I looked into this for a while. I chose the Thai mutual fund route, so did not need a broker after all, but I had it narrowed down to Bualuang securities and Tisco. I would look into both and see which one you are more comfortable with. I liked Phatra too myself, but they need too much initial deposit for my blood. KGI securities online trading has also been recommended, although I never tried it.

I am not a big SCB fan either btw

I will have a look at both of those, not interested much in mutual fund route, I will also look at KGI. Thanks

[Ludacris]

The best banks for foreigners in Thailand include: UOB, KBank, Bangkok Bank, and Krungsri. All of them offer brokerages and mutual funds. MayBank's Kim Eng brokerage is also good, and Aberdeen is also good for mutual funds. Krungsri offers good market and research reports in English.

You may want to look at mutual funds for part of your portfolio. There's advantages of using funds in smaller, illiquid markets like Thailand. See the thread in this section called 'Set Index and Thai Mutual Funds'. Lots of good advice in there.

http://www.morningstarthailand.com/th/ also has lots of good info.

Note that some banks will not open accounts for Americans, not sure if that applies to you or not.

Good luck and keep in touch!

[kingstonkid]

I have gone with Maybank. They deal in securities only and I have a broker to contact and talk to.

[Ludacris]

I forgot to mention that if you're working in Thailand, you should definitely look into the LTF/RMF mutual funds. Like a 401K or RRSP, you save on your taxes and they can be redeemed tax free since there's no capital gains tax in Thailand. Almost impossible to lose in the long run.

[taiping]

I have been with TISCO eTRADE for many years, Excellent service. Can fund from transfers from/to a Thai bank. Dividend payments paid to a Thai Bank account less 10% tax. However, they only deal in Thai shares while I believe other brokers like Phillip Securities have access to overseas shares. I also have an account with Phillip Securities in Hong Kong so this is of no concern to me.

[bitcoinbob]

Can i ask what are the commission rates they charge on say a 1,000 share of PTT. comission rate to trade futures SET 50 or Gold futures on the TFEX. I know they still have fixed comission rates, just curious if that has changed. The way i trade Thailand is using THD thailand ETF using Interactive brokers paying 3.25 a side or 6.50 a round turn.

[taiping]

I bought 500 PTT-R shares recently through TISCO eTrade. Commission and tax was 243.98 baht or 0.17% (zero point 17).

[fletchsmile]

I use KGI as a broker. Quite a bit of paperwork to set it all up, but have been happy with their platform. Most of the brokers then allow access to Settrade's one click, which has additional tools. Particularly useful if you do options and want theoretical prices, plus does additional stuff for normal shares.

To add money is simple, I just transferred money from my Bangkok Bank account to their BBL acc, then dropped an email to my broker. Transfer done in the morning is usually available to trade in the afternoon.

Cheers

Fletch

[supaprik]

Take a look also @ KT Zimco, I've used these guys for years and their service is excellent, fees are also some of the lowest in the industry..

[movsrus]

I set up an account with TISCO Securities and have been generally pleased with it. You will find that as a foreigner you will have to buy all your shares on a restricted basis (i.e. as a foreigner you are limited to shares that have no voting rights but accrue dividends, if applicable) and for which you will get the profits and loss just as if you had voting shares.

Part of the problem I find is that much of the information on companies is in Thai and Google does only a fair job of translating financial information. For most of the biggest Thai companies it is fairly easy to get information in English but much more difficult to do so for smaller companies.

I am able to transfer funds back and forth from my TISCO account to my Thai bank accounts without problem or cost so it is easy to put money in and take it back out. The Thai SET has lost a fair amount of ground over the past few months so be careful about what you buy and how much money you put into it.

I am not sure how transparent Thai stocks are as compared to the US market so I tend to steer clear of the smaller cap stocks but someone who has a fluency in Thai and has the time and inclination to dig around may do well in this part of the market.

Remember that if you are a US citizen you will need to file the FBAR report to the IRS in which you acknowledge the account. I have some dividends that will accrue tax this year and have yet to figure out how to report them as income on my taxes but that is one reason I employ an accountant and it will be up to him to figure it out,

Good luck.

[great dane]

As my name tells,im a dane living in Thailand and i trade shares using my laptop and a share Trading platform through my bank in denmark.

What i liked to know is "do you need working permit " in Thailand to be abel to trade shares here and to be abel to bye and hold thai shares ?.

Any links for any great bank trades platforms available for forigners in Thailand ?

thx

Great Dane

[nicothai]

I did with Nomura... Bank account for balance with UOB

Nomura has the IFund platform that allow you to trade on many funds... Almost all

My experience with Nomura is very good!

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[PMZ]

In response to the comments on banking above, I was with UOB for many years and it was disastrous. I now use SCB and they have been great for the past few years. I also use Krungsri, and while their minimum deposit amounts are high, its an amazing bank with great service. I think all bank experiences vary by person, very subjective.

As for trading, I have used KimEng Maybank Securities for about six years and they are very good. You get a personal account manager and the e-Commerce team turns around emails in minutes.

Edited January 16, 2014 by PMZ

[Paul9989]

Just FYI... There are a couple more options you can consider. There is an online brokerage based in Hong Kong called Boom. Go to boom.com to learn more. From Boom you can trade in almost all the Asian equity markets plus all the USA markets and Australia all from one account. So you can do that from overseas without having to bring funds directly into Thailand if you prefer not to. In addition, there is an iShares ETF Thai SET index fund listed on the NYSE where you can trade the Thai Index in USD via the NYSE and through Boom as well.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Paul9989

[rickray]

I'm surprised at the bashing of SCB. In my 25 years in Thailand, SCB has given me much better service than any other bank. Yes, they gave a mortgage on my house (no, I'm not married). While I was paying off the mortgage, I took out a personal loan of 1 million baht to pay for a golf club membership. And 2 years ago, they processed my application for Platinum Visa card with 150,000 limit within 2 weeks (real credit card, no security deposit required). SCB has been great to me.

[Ludacris]

I will admit that if your wealth is in the top 1%, which it probably is taking that kind of loan just for a golf membership, than your experience at SCB will be unique.

For the rest of us common falang- personal loans, mortgages, and credit cards at SCB are out of reach. I have a friend who had 1 million baht in cash in an account, work permit, and the same job for 5 years, and the SCB branch manager refused him a credit card. He withdrew his 1 million baht on the spot, not that the manager cared about the lost business. I went in asking for a safe box, and was lied to 3 times in a row that none were available. When I pressed the issue and asked them to put my name on the waiting list, the truth finally came out that if I signed up for life insurance I could get one that same day.

In contrast, I have a platinum credit card with 2 other Thai banks with a limit higher than yours. So maybe even for the 1% SCB still shafts you...

[isawasnake]

I will give SCB a shot on one of their credit cards. I have never been a fan, but sounds like they deserve another chance.

UOB denies US citizens securities investments. I like UOB too.

Bualuang, aberdeen and Bay get all my business though, and I like them all.

[spambot]

As my name tells,im a dane living in Thailand and i trade shares using my laptop and a share Trading platform through my bank in denmark.

What i liked to know is "do you need working permit " in Thailand to be abel to trade shares here and to be abel to bye and hold thai shares ?.

Any links for any great bank trades platforms available for forigners in Thailand ?

thx

Great Dane

Surprised no one has picked this one up and posted a response.

I am no expert on work permits - However generally trading stocks fits into the same category as bank interest and termed unearned income.

Definition of 'Unearned Income'

Any income that comes from investments and other sources unrelated to employment services.

Hence most countries around the world will consider this form of earning as not working - Hence no working permit required - Don't take this as gospel to be the case in Thailand, but would be massively surprised if it was anything than.

And just to emphasize the point:

Examples of unearned income include interest from a savings account, bond interest, alimony, and dividends from stock. As long as this income is "realized" then it is taxable, but as said before considered as unearned.

Since a retirement visa requires a retirement person to have a deposit in a Thai Bank (800K) - and then prohibits the retiree from working - The retirement visa holder can still earn interest on this money deposited in a bank saving account - Hence this is similar and is unearned income.

Hope that helps.

[hawthorne]

We have accounts at SCB, KBank and Krungsri and some how they would not give us a credit card. Had one at Bangkok Bank and they gave us the runaround during my whole vacation we moved that account to SCB. We have various types meaning ownership joint, her name only and my name only. We do not live in Thailand and never make withdrawals except from a joint account during our yearly trip to Thailand. So I am curious how and where are you guys getting credit cards? Do they offer the consumer fraud protection as in the US? We do keep sizable balances but maybe what is big to me is not big enough. Appreciate any advice.

Oh and by the way Krungsri has the best customer service no matter which branch but seem to go to Fortune Town the most. KBank typically is very nice but when asking for any service like bonds or credit cards they only want to sell us some type of insurance which infuriates me. SCB we had an odd experience and for some reason could not us the online service. In order to correct it we had to open a dummy account? Then we could access the other account online. If I had not transfered some money the dummy account would have closed after one year without a balance. The customer service lady left that part out. We only learned as we got an SMS message warning the pending closing. If it had closed we would no longer have been able to access our other account.

By the way I highly recommend keeping a separate phone with your Thai SIM card if living outside Thailand to get bank SMS messages. It keeps us informed if anyone gets access and hopefully before too much gets gone.

[wooloomooloo]

hawthorne, on 16 Jan 2014 - 18:30, said:

So I am curious how and where are you guys getting credit cards? Do they offer the consumer fraud protection as in the US?

I nearly spat my beer out, hawthorne.

In short - no chance.

I do occasionally utilise my UK credit cards in LOS and am afforded the same protection as I would at home.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

[Ludacris]

KBank, Krungsri, and UOB are the ones I know of that have no problems giving credit cards to foreigners. The requirements are listed on their websites, and as a foreigner you have to meet their salary and work permit requirements, which is probably why you can't get one as a tourist.

As for fraud protection, I can say that the one time I needed a charge reversed after I was double charged and the company wouldn't give me a refund (probably due to incompetence rather than refusing to do it), UOB had no problem taking it off and giving me a new card. They were very professional and had the forms I needed to fill out in English.

And it's quite possible the fraud monitoring here is much better than back home. My friends and I have sometimes been called within seconds of making a purchase to make sure that it's legit.

I totally agree with the good service at Krungsri. They recently took over HSBC's Thai operations, so there could even be a company wide directive to be extra nice to their new foreign customers.

As for the work permit issue, to add to what was said earlier- as long as you are investing or trading your own money then no work permit is needed. Only when are you doing it as a business with other people's money do you need one.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

hawthorne, on 16 Jan 2014 - 18:30, said:

So I am curious how and where are you guys getting credit cards? Do they offer the consumer fraud protection as in the US?

I nearly spat my beer out, hawthorne.

In short - no chance.

I do occasionally utilise my UK credit cards in LOS and am afforded the same protection as I would at home.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Thai bank account deposits are protected against bank financial failure by a government insurance scheme up to a certain amount per bank per depositor. I believe it's 50 million baht until Aug 2015, and then is scheduled to fall to lower amounts after that, and is due to fall to 1 million baht by August 2016 and beyond.

http://www.dpa.or.th/ewt_news.php?nid=320&filename=index___EN

DPA coverage doesn't protect against theft or fraud, whether external or internal to the bank.

As for credit cards, the Thai banks basically have a policy that you're responsible for anything that happens with your card until you report it to the bank as lost or stolen or compromised.

The Thai banks may fix clerical or administrative errors involving bank card charges. But you'd be likely to find them much less accommodating on fraudulent charges should your card be stolen or otherwise compromised.

The whole U.S. notion of "zero fraud liability" as advertised by VISA and a version of that that's part of U.S. federal consumer protection law doesn't exist in Thailand.

Using a Thai bank card in Thailand has very little in the way of legal consumer protections. But using a U.S. bank card in Thailand, the card is still governed by U.S. consumer protection laws, even when used outside the U.S.

[fletchsmile]

and the relevance of credit card protection to opening a bank account for SET stock trading is....... ?

Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man was entertaining. The same can't be said of Aeon Man and his obsessive compulsion with credit cards...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

and the relevance of credit card protection to opening a bank account for SET stock trading is....... ?

Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man was entertaining. The same can't be said of Aeon Man and his obsessive compulsion with credit cards...

Another member here asked the question. Sorry you're offended.

So I am curious how and where are you guys getting credit cards? Do they offer the consumer fraud protection as in the US?

Edited January 17, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[jimmybkk]

Just FYI... There are a couple more options you can consider. There is an online brokerage based in Hong Kong called Boom. Go to boom.com to learn more. From Boom you can trade in almost all the Asian equity markets plus all the USA markets and Australia all from one account. So you can do that from overseas without having to bring funds directly into Thailand if you prefer not to. In addition, there is an iShares ETF Thai SET index fund listed on the NYSE where you can trade the Thai Index in USD via the NYSE and through Boom as well.

I have an account with Boom and initially used that account to trade Thai stocks. Then I realized just how high their commissions were for SET trades compared with the local brokerages and so I opened an account with KTZmico. No complaints so far...

[Paul9989]

I will admit that if your wealth is in the top 1%, which it probably is taking that kind of loan just for a golf membership, than your experience at SCB will be unique.

For the rest of us common falang- personal loans, mortgages, and credit cards at SCB are out of reach. I have a friend who had 1 million baht in cash in an account, work permit, and the same job for 5 years, and the SCB branch manager refused him a credit card. He withdrew his 1 million baht on the spot, not that the manager cared about the lost business. I went in asking for a safe box, and was lied to 3 times in a row that none were available. When I pressed the issue and asked them to put my name on the waiting list, the truth finally came out that if I signed up for life insurance I could get one that same day.

In contrast, I have a platinum credit card with 2 other Thai banks with a limit higher than yours. So maybe even for the 1% SCB still shafts you...

It is sad, but safe deposit boxes in this country are hard to come by. Almost all banks don't have enough for all the customers that want them, and the rent is so low on them that they use them as a means of cross selling another bank product. This is not unique to SCB. All Thai banks either want you to take out life insurance or put anywhere from 100,000 Baht to 500,000 Baht in a 1 year time deposit. There is no way around it unless perhaps you are already high value customer at a certain bank.

Also worth nothing about safe deposit boxes in general is that I found the only bank locations that really have big, secure, proper vaults are head office branches. In this case the vaults will also be in the basement, which is best. It also leaves them susceptible to floods though. So I would suggest wrapping everything in double zip-lock plastic bags that you put in your safe deposit box. And I wouldn't take a safe deposit box in a small bank branch location. There have been incidents of break-ins from insiders in the past at small branches.

I settled on a head office branch of a bank that is sky train accessible. There are only 2-3 banks like that in Bangkok with head offices that you can reach by sky train. I felt sky train access was critical in case the city is ever locked down and you needed to be able to get to the bank and remove your valuables quickly. I would also feel more comfortable carrying valuables in the sky train with me than in a taxi. So I placed 100,000 Baht timed deposit for one year with them without any requirement to roll it over to keep the box the following year. I am happy with it.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Paul9989