hsbc uae or hsbc expat jersey - barclays channel islands

[Martin Everson]

FYI. HSBC has thrown in the towel in terms of doing brokerage in house and have instead partnered with IBKR.

https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/interactive-brokers-and-hsbc-launch-global-trading-platform/

They have rolled out IBKR to HSBC UAE and soon to whats left of their global retail entities.

https://www.hsbc.ae/investments/products/worldtrader/


P.S Important to note is that HSBC has been selling off a lot of their retail and various other banking operations last year (2024) such as:

HSBC France
HSBC Canada
HSBC Argentina
HSBC Mauritius
HSBC Russia
HSBC Armenia
HSBC Germany (private banking)
HSBC South Africa (wholesale business)

This all happened just last year and before that tons of other global retail operations have been sold off or closed down. Plus further more planned:

HSBC Malta (has been for sale for a while but deal with APS Bank failed but another will come along)

The bottom line is there is a clear pattern of retreat from a lot of markets and a move to focus on investment and some private banking. Basically if your not a HSBC Private Banking client (min £1.5m) in channel isles or an investment banking client stay away from HSBC group.

Premier Banking clients are just retail clients sadly and service will be terrible as moral must be down with staff is my guess.

 

[Forester]

Is there another Jersey bank you would recommend instead?

Sadly not at moment. All these banks have changed for the worse over last few years.

Barclays Isle of Man included (there is Barclays at Jersey too but all international clients are directed to IOM)? I have no recent experience but I value them quite good...

Am wondering which jurisdiction to add besides Singapore as some Swiss/Liechtenstein banks are still quite expensive for what they offer...

I agree that they are relatively expensive. Yet
1) quite safe (if you choose properly);
2) if you hold some remarkable assets with them, the fees are bearable.

But I think you have to live outside the EU for BARCLAYS IOM to be possible. EU citizens are excluded.

I am not sure whether all EU is restricted; but probably most.

another 'proper' banking jurisdiction besides SG,CH,Liechtenstein which would provide that.

Check HK and Mauritius. (I do not want to say that it is an equivalent, just worth checking.)

Banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein are completely unsuitable for buy stocks/ETFs because of the extreme fees. 1.9% per order (10K= 190€ fee) and 0.40% custody fee completely absurd.

1,9% per order is really a lot, for a frequent trader. Yet 0,40% for custody is quite OK, you can face even 0,90% or so. And if you have, say, 1M with them (it means you are a smaller client), will you care about 9k per year? (Probably not.)

IBRK would be only 0.08% (10K= 8€ fee) per order and no custody fee and just as safe.

With all due respect, I really do not think it is just as safe. I do not want to say that IBKR is unsafe but it is not comparable with e.g. Rothschilds, Gutzwiller & Cie, Rahn+Bodmer etc. (Of course it is true that you can go with IBKR with much less assets than with the named banks – but this is not the topic, we talk about safety.)

 

[nobel]

Yet 0,40% for custody is quite OK, you can face even 0,90% or so. And if you have, say, 1M with them (it means you are a smaller client), will you care about 9k per year? (Probably not.)

Are you serious that 9K doesn't bother me with 1M securities? Of course it bothers me. Why throw 9K out the window when you can do it for 0K? If you don't like IBKR then take Swissquote, it's really safe and you pay max. 200CHF a year even with 1 billion assets. Or you like to pay 9M per year instead of 200CHF?

 

[Forester]

Are you serious that 9K doesn't bother me with 1M securities? Of course it bothers me.

Well, may be; it's completely on you. Anyone's mileage may vary.

Why throw 9K out the window when you can do it for 0K?

If I can get an equivalent product for 0k, I won't buy it for 9k, definitely. The core is that
1) I do not consider these products (IBKR and e.g. LGT) equivalent;
and mainly
2) this is a different case: if you work with 1M worth securities, you can lose or gain 9k totally easily in a few trades, so it is much more important to pay attention to your operations than to custody fees of 0,9% (yes, it is a higher rate, I consider 0,5-0,6 as more common).

If you don't like IBKR then take Swissquote, it's really safe and you pay max. 200CHF a year even with 1 billion assets.

Yes, SQ is quite safe, I agree.

Or you like to pay 9M per year instead of 200CHF?

Not 9M. But as for 9k, I would rather take more care about my trades than about this custody fee.

 

[nobel]

Well, may be; it's completely on you. Anyone's mileage may vary.
If I can get an equivalent product for 0k, I won't buy it for 9k, definitely. The core is that
1) I do not consider these products (IBKR and e.g. LGT) equivalent;
and mainly
2) this is a different case: if you work with 1M worth securities, you can lose or gain 9k totally easily in a few trades, so it is much more important to pay attention to your operations than to custody fees of 0,9% (yes, it is a higher rate, I consider 0,5-0,6 as more common).
Yes, SQ is quite safe, I agree.

Liechtenstein like LGT and other banks are just snooty and think they are better. They only pay the fees because of the name and location. But it makes no sense.
I am willing to pay a maximum of 0.10% fees for trading. SQ can be used to store assets but not for trading. Better to keep everything separate.

 

[daniels27]

Reminds me of this

D

Thread 'Are Swiss banks expensive or not?'

Jan 3, 2025

dukascopy.bank sounds good. However, I see now, fees from assets 1.5% per year, is that serious? Then of course not acceptable.

Maintenance fee 1.5% per year (The maintenance fee (cumulative swap points) is charged monthly for the assets held in the previous month. The fee is calculated from the sum of the end-of-day balances of the investments' * (maintenance fee in % / 360).

Just put some cash there and don't do any trading.

• daniels27
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Offshore Bank & EMI Accounts

• 

 

[nobel]

Reminds me of this

D

Thread 'Are Swiss banks expensive or not?'

Jan 3, 2025

dukascopy.bank sounds good. However, I see now, fees from assets 1.5% per year, is that serious? Then of course not acceptable.

Maintenance fee 1.5% per year (The maintenance fee (cumulative swap points) is charged monthly for the assets held in the previous month. The fee is calculated from the sum of the end-of-day balances of the investments' * (maintenance fee in % / 360).

Just put some cash there and don't do any trading.

• daniels27
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Offshore Bank & EMI Accounts

• 

Yes, 1.5% is just crazy, even the customer who does it.

 

[daniels27]

There are people willing to pay for such service. That's why the offer exists.