I did not need to pay anything
Outbound transfer at IB is free
Inbound transfer at SQ is free
9 Likes
Thanks for the info! That’s great news about the free transfers. I’m surprised and pleased to hear it. Makes me think it could be worth moving Swiss stocks from IBKR to SQ, especially if you want to get into the share register. Sounds like a good deal with no downside.
4 Likes
down side is SQ charges yearly fee, right? Or is it not the case anymore?
Swissquote still has custody fees, yes. CHF 80-200 p.a. + VAT (+ 0.03% p.a. for securities beyond CHF 1 Mio.)
1 Like
Transfer from IBKR to Saxo is free of charge
So, would it make sense to buy on IBKR and transfer to Saxo once a year, just to keep it with a Swiss bank?
Could make sense. But I would guess IB would not like it and eventually close your account.
1 Like
Why would IBKR close the account? I think they are getting the trading fees anyways. Custody fees is zero as well.
The miniscule trading fees are not making IB much money I would say. They want your aum.
I would expect it to be similar if you use them just for currency conversion, which they are known for to close accounts.
Also there is effort on their side for transfering the funds, and if that effort happens regularly, they might not like it.
Just my guess though, and I could be wrong.
Why do they want the AUM, they don’t make any money on that do they?
Interesting
I did move few positions and never had a question from IBKR.
I think it would be very strange if they complain about everything. Transfer of positions between brokers is very common. They can always apply a fee if they want to
1 Like
Not much directly, but they still want to have your aum for various reasons.
They do however get interest on your univested cash, which most are likely to have some and highe raum means, that cash pile grows larger → more interest for them.
It’s good for their stats as acompany think of “aum under management”. Gets them better status and makes look better to other institutions/more reliable i.e. bette rinterest rates.
higher aum means you are statistically mor elikely to engage in other more profit driven services. Also eventually selling and generating trading fees there.
Potential for you to join the SYEP program with your aum.
But of course the main revenue for IB are margin loans and trading.
And somebody buying 12x VT a year with 35 cents trading cost and a little currency conversion (where IB likely doesnt make much profit from), won’t make IB much money.
I was mainly arguing from the point of using them only as a buying platform and then transfering everything every year and not keeping anything there.
Same with Saxo: With a transfer, they have some work but earn nothing from it, since there’s no buying/selling and no custody fees (they earn from securities lending, which is disabled by default). They might end up with more AUM, but we’re still just small fish. Personally, I also have no desire to deal with the hassle of a transfer, and I don’t like having everything with one provider.
My plan for this year:
- VT (USD) @ IBKR
- FWRA (CHF) @ Saxo
It’s not like that yet, my goal is a 50:50 allocation. VT because currency conversion costs at IBKR are nearly zero, and FWRA because then there are no currency conversion fees at Saxo.
My idea from a differsification perspective:
- Broker: 50% Swiss (Saxo) and 50% foreign (IBKR)
- Fund/ETF domicile: 50% USA (VT) and 50% Irland (FWRA)
And yes, I could just have everything in an ETF with a broker, but I sleep better this way…
I also do the same with my 3a. 50% with VIAC and 50% with Finpension.
1 Like
Possibly this was already discussed somewhere deep in some thread, thanks for pointing me to such discussions in case.
I have been always reluctant to open a broker in CH due to higher costs, especially the stamp duty. But now I have a sizeable portfolio on IBKR and I started to think about diversifying also broker-wise and it dawned on me: can I not buy EFTs (like VT) on IBKR and then transfer them to e.g., Saxo Bank? The moment I would need to sell the funds I could do the same in reverse? This of course assumes that transferring ETF positions is free (or cheaper than the stamp duty).
Would this work?
Yes.
Beyond technicality you might still do what has to be done to make your banker happy.
That’s what I do. (Not to avoid the duty just for diversification).
1 Like
Could you guys maybe give a couple details of how this is done in practice? I used FOPs in the past to transfer shares from my employer’s broker to IBKR → is that the technical way to go?
like what?
Free FOP transfer, takes a few days. Saved info in IBKR so that’s a few simple clicks after first one is done.
Make sure Saxo is happy with it (I don’t use them) as you bypass both stamp duty and their trade fees. They’re normally happy with incoming transfer but they’re not a charity. They have to make money somehow, if custody is free (is it?) you can raise a red flag.
I do some trades at CH broker once in a while to keep things alive and be an active customer, not just use them as a free Swiss safe for my positions.
1 Like