Researching on the way to have investments held in foreign country that is not subject to taxation on dividends or capital gains. Two possible countries to open an account are Switzerland and Singapore.
In Switzerland, BVC Bank in Lausanne has a trading arm.
Singapore seems to a popular choice and this WISE article details the criteria on selecting an international brokerage there. For Singapore they list DBS Vickers, Interactive Brokers (IBKR), Syfe Trade, Tiger Brokers, Moomoo, and Saxo Markets. For Singapore (and Hong Kong) Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is often the first one recommended on other websites. It is reliable and has been around about 50 years! But there are complaints about the complexity of the trading platform and with customer service, and they seem to be geared more toward active traders. Also, the parent company is from the U.S. so an IRS form W-8 is required to open an account.
Here is a MoneySmart article on Singapore brokerages.
On a Google search I found KGI Securities (Singapore) Ltd. which is a subsidiary of KGI Financial Holding Co. Ltd., a Taiwanese company. They trade on the Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, NYSE and NASDAQ exchanges. They also note that an account can be opened without a visit to Singapore.
Saxo Markets is only open to residents of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia.
DBS Vickers commissions are typically 0.12-0.15%.
DBS Vickers trades on the following exchanges:
Singapore: Singapore Exchange (Main Board, Catalist, Global Quote)
United States: NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX & OTC
Canada: TSX & TSX Venture Exchange
United Kingdom: LSE
Hong Kong: Hong Kong Main Board & Growth Enterprise Market (GEM)
Australia: ASX
Japan: Tokyo Stock Exchange
To open an account at DBS Vickers (and probably other brokerages) are the following:
- Canadian passport.
- Proof of residential address.
- Proof of tax residency (or tax identification number, if applicable).
- Information about the source of your funds and expected trading activity, as part of standard AML/KYC checks.
You will also probably need to have a bank account in Singapore.
