Saxo Bank Switzerland

Investing / Brokers
21

But with IE funds you los eout on 15% withholdings and have way higher TERs. That offsets the conversion fees a million times over.

1 Like
23

To be able to “opt-out” you need to either:

  • have disposable bankable assests of at least CHF 2 Mio.

Or:

  • disposable bankable assets of at least CHF 500k AND on the basis of education and Professional experience or on the basis of comparable experience in the financial sector, the client possess the necessary knowledge to understand the risks associated with the investments.
2 Likes
24

EU protecting the little investor of the grave mistake of investing in better US funds.

Rules for the public, but not for the rich. Absolutely crazy and that there is no outrage on this is baffling actually.

But trading options with 200x leverage ? Easy no problem, there is no danger there ! :slight_smile:

More taxes for eu
.

4 Likes
25

not much difference? 10x more?

26

Not much difference in the end result.
2.037M vs. 2.02M

10x more fees doesn’t tell the whole story.

27

thanks for your presentation btw. :slight_smile:

Can agree with you. But if you want to save the 9k, then it’s still 9k.

28

Does this refer to Mifid II? Just to confirm, they do let you opt-out without much hassle?

Is there security lending like the SYEP?
Do they publish interest rates paid and received? Only found interest paid on CHF at a first glance?

30

In my old place we had several clients that opted-out, they just needed to proof that they fulfill the conditions with some bank statements or work experience and then sign a form that they want to opt-out. Don’t know if anything changed in the last years in this regard.

31

Isn’t that an arbitrary interpretation of them then?

Swissquote and IB allow and they adhere to the finsa rules no?

33

I think they just do it out of caution to prevent, in the case of Switzerland ever requiring funds to be priips compliant, having to tell customers they cant buy certain funds anymore and to prevent liability.

As the cited rules are 1:1 the same as in EU and I can‘t imagine they apply to CH.

34

That’s the standard process for becoming a qualified investor. It is not required by law in any way that only qualified investors can buy e.g. VT. Saxo just decided that they don’t want to take any risk at all and only allow investments for qualified investors.

2 Likes
35

Thanks a lot.

Finsa, of course.

I got the info from the second link before, but it’s only interest received and you have to select by currency.
Seems not best in class but better than many other alternatives.

36

So, If understood well you cannot buy US ETFs (VT, JEPI etc.) in Saxo as you can do in Swissquote?

37

Unfortunately you cannot yes, except if you have two million or 500k and have professional finance experience.

1 Like
38

Thanks a lot. Are there any other restrictions apart from ETFs? Stocks, options etc.?

39

Then it can be interesting to buy at IB an transfer - let’s say all 250k - to SQ or Saxo to hold the assets.
I think, it does not make sense since the securities do not belong to SQ, IB or Saxo, anyways, if they go bust.

40

I think it doesnt matter where you hold your assets, you wpuld just need to submit proof that you hold this much all added together.

41

All

I appreciate the valuable discussion on this blog. So, based on what I read , the conclusion is following -:

  1. Saxo CH is good alternative (although still expensive vs Interactive brokers) for Swiss / European stocks and ETFs

  2. stamp duty is not really fault of Saxo. So not much to say about it.

  3. Amongst Swiss licensed brokers - Saxo is appealing

  4. For US ETFs, even though costs are reasonable, one need to become professional client.

Does anyone know what does professional client status actually mean from Capital gains taxation perspective? Does it impact in anyways or it’s just a way for Saxo to say that if client want to buy US ETFs without KIDs then it’s not their responsibility.

Another point - does it matter that ~50% of Saxo is owned by China? Can we really consider them as Swiss broker? Assuming peace of mind is the main currency on offer here.

42

Has absolutely no impact on taxation, it’s just a way for the bank to protect themselves.

4 Likes
43

This morning on Saxo they now have an exclamation mark for US ETFs stating no KID provided and one cannot trade them. Is this the beginning of the end?