(09-06-2011, 10:23 PM)yyt Wrote: I called up SCB and got the following points:
Entitled to Corporate Actions (Rights, Splits, Dividends)
No charge for Corporate Actions
No maintenance fee.
No Annual Reports
Not Eligible for IPO
There's a stop loss order for SGX market
From my personal experience with UOB KH nominees acct, the perks SCB offers are attractive.
UOB charge a quarterly maintenance fee of ~$20 if you hold stocks in your nominees acct. Div payouts are also charged a nominal processing fee.
(09-06-2011, 01:02 AM)D123 Wrote: no direct letters to ask for subscription for scrip dividends etc.
Can one still be eligible for scrip div by emailing the company directly?
I am afraid can't. the company determines the eligibility to receive scrip div through CDP. if not held under CDP, no record. but scb should provide means for scrip dividend or cash dividend only.
Since brokerage fees make up a substantial portion of my annual spending, I had an interest to find out more about the new standard chartered online platform as it has the potential to dramatically lower my expenses. Below is what I found;
Commission rates for the standard chartered online platform platform are highly competitive versus the other brokers. For the Singapore market, SCB commission rates are 0.18% of traded amount if you are a priority banking customer and 0.2% if you are not. 0.18% matches the DBS cash-upfront account which I earlier recommended. In fact, for trading Singapore stocks, its closest competitor is the DBS cash-upfront account.
The SCB platform beats the DBS cash-upfront account on some aspects. Firstly, the 0.18% commission applies for both buy and sell transactions. In contrast, DBS cash-upfront can only be used on buy transactions. After the shares are deposited into CDP, 0.18% does not apply (unless you sell within 3 days before the shares reach CDP).
If you cannot qualify as priority banking customers, DBS cash-upfront is still cheaper. To qualify as priority banking customers, you have to put in at least SGD200k with SCB. I have checked with SCB that shares held in their nominee account can also be counted as assets to qualify as priority banking customers. Otherwise, it will be a problem after customers become fully invested.
Like the DBS cash upfront account, you have to deposit cash upfront to be able to buy stocks. In other words, no contra-trading.
The major pricing advantage SCB has over all other Singaporean brokerages is NO MINIMUM COMMISSION. 'No minimum commission' is a wonderful thing for small, young retail investors who cannot afford to trade in reasonably large amounts to minimize brokerage fees as a percentage of the investment. It will save money for small and disciplined investors who practise dollar-cost-averaging in the Singapore market. The minimum commission has been a sticking point for Singaporean retail investors who want to buy illiquid penny stocks (some of them can be neglected, value stocks). Sometimes, I end up paying the minimum commission of SGD25 on a tiny SGD200 transaction of an illiquid penny stock. This works out to more than 10% of the investment.
On first look, SCB commission rates charged for foreign markets look like a winner compared to the other brokers. Don't jump to conclusions yet. One has to factor in the currency exchange rates. From my experience, the exchange rates offered by brokers are much better than banks. If SCB uses the bank rates, then it is no longer as cheap as what it appears. I cannot confirm on the exchange rate until I start using the account (not activated yet). Anyone knows better out there?
One advantage of SCB platform compared to other Singaporean brokers for foreign markets is that a nominal interest is earned in the settlement account. I have checked with SCB that the interest rate is 0.1% for all currencies (even for the Aussie dollar). This is low but still better than the other Singaporean brokers that I know who pay zero interest. However, compared to other US brokers like Interactive Brokers, it is not as good. For example, click here to find out what Interactive Brokers is paying on the various currencies in their accounts. To enjoy better higher interest, one way is to open foreign currency accounts with SCB and shift your idle funds from the settlement accounts to the foreign currency accounts which enjoy higher interest rate during periods when you want to stay out of the market. This is important for the Australian market as the Aussie dollar currency enjoys one of the highest interest rate in the developed world.
Another advantage of buying foreign shares using SCB is that there are no custodian fees to be charged on the shares held in the nominee account unlike most other Singaporean brokers with the exception of DBS Vickers.
On pricing, SCB is considerably cheaper for the Australian, Japanese and European markets compared to the other Singaporean brokers. If the currency exchange rate is reasonably good, then it is a no-brainer to use SCB online brokerage (among the Singapore brokers) for trading foreign equities. I will still use a US broker for trading US stocks.
Singapore shares bought using SCB platform are stored in a nominee account unlike the rest where shares are deposited into our CDP account. There are some risks to consider;
1. You can only sell your shares using SCB if shares are not deposited into the CDP account. One may face the risk of not being able to sell out on a high-volume panicky day because the IT system fails due to heavy traffic. Traders hate to be stuck in their positions, particularly when they want to sell. Compared to the US brokers, Singapore brokers still have room for improvement in terms of the stability of their IT infrastructure on high-volume trading days. Experienced Singaporean investors will know what I mean.
2. Are clients' assets protected if SCB becomes bankrupt? Are they segregated into a safe, untouchable account in which the custodian cannot use it for their own purposes? What is the legal status of clients' assets in a bankruptcy? I do not know the answer to these questions. Can some readers help?
3. Can clients still exercise their voting rights as shareholders? Again, I do not know the answer. Hopefully, some readers can help.
One thing I like about a nominee account is that the risk of a accidental short-sell is removed. The system knows exactly how many shares you own and should prompt you if you try to sell more than you own. This is what happens with my US broker and I expect the same thing for SCB platform. The SCB platform does not permit shorting.
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Trust yourself only with your money
They use nominee accounts and there are some encumbrances and extra fees on certain transactions (e.g. 10% tax on REIT distributions), but their base commission rate of 0.15% for SG stocks is the lowest I've found. More details at the link.
I find this surprising. I thought all Singapore registered companies selling goods/services to Singaporeans have to pay GST? Maybe the 0.18% commission quoted has already included GST. Have you actually tried out SCB online trading and confirm on this? My account is not activated yet.
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Trust yourself only with your money
I find this surprising. I thought all Singapore registered companies selling goods/services to Singaporeans have to pay GST? Maybe the 0.18% commission quoted has already included GST. Have you actually tried out SCB online trading and confirm on this? My account is not activated yet.
18-06-2011, 04:46 PM (This post was last modified: 19-06-2011, 12:05 PM by hyom.)
Quote:i request to use SCB secure token
Not so good news to share regarding the secure token. The bank will first activate the website for secure token login, then mail you the token 10 days later. In other words, your funds will be frozen for about 10 days until you receive the token.
For value investors who want to invest when the market is down, it is a terrible time to have your funds frozen.
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Trust yourself only with your money
Not sure abt this
I see this clause when confirming an order
Quote:Important Note:
...
2. GST to be imposed where applicable.
...
Anyway, shouldn't be an issue since GST will be negligible on 0.2%+clearing.
I agree the platform does have it's limitations, but fortunately, they are "soft" limitations, i.e. convenience, presentation, software related.
e.g.
A maximum of 12 counters/watchlist. And a total of 5 un-renamable watchlist across all markets. (i.e. total 60 counters)
No right click on counter and "Add to watchlist", all counters have to be entered using their stockcode manually.
Some good points though,
They have a sector comparison screen, where you get all counters of selected sectors (e.g. agriculture, transport, etc) displayed on the same screen. You can compare P/E there.
You can compare up to 2 stocks their % price performance. I've attached Singtel vs Starhub for a maximum time frame. Quite nifty. Much like google finance.
You can also adjust their charts to remove dividend payouts and do your comparison. (attached FTSE vs SPDR STI ETF, after removing div, it tracks almost perfectly)
Stop loss order. Haven't used it, but it's available.
But bottomline, the "hard" facts still holds, 0.2% client commission, that's what I signed up for.
If they strip the platform bare and provide me only buy and sell, I'll be more than happy.
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