Hi, i asked to IB 2 days ago about a possible ETF VT restriction and here is the answer:
"Dear Mr.,
We have not received any such notification about trading restriction on this ETF on Swiss residents. You should be communicated if we will have any update on this. At this moment, Swiss residents can trade this ETF with IBKR provided they are approved of the trading permission."
Regards,
Atul J
IBKR Client Services
I think if nothing happened yet, nothing will in the future.
Got a mail today from CornĂšrtrader:
in Ăbereinstimmung mit der FIDLEG -Verordnung sind ab dem 1. Januar 2022 alle Emittenten von Fonds verpflichtet, den Privatanlegern ein Key Investor Document (KID) zur VerfĂŒgung zu stellen, damit sie ihre Produkte aus diesem Segment vertreiben können.
Davon werden alle in den USA, Hongkong, Kanada und Australien notierten ETFs, ETNs, ETCs und ETPs betroffen sein.
Wir arbeiten mit hoher PrioritÀt an einer Lösung, die den Handel mit den nicht konformen Produkten auf Privatanleger beschrÀnkt und die voraussichtlich im Laufe des Monats Januar in Kraft treten wird.
Bis dahin empfehlen wir Ihnen dringend, keine neuen Positionen in Instrumenten zu eröffnen fĂŒr die kein KID auf der Plattform verfĂŒgbar ist. Bestehende Positionen, die Sie vor dem 1. Januar eröffnet haben, empfehlen wir, sobald Sie die Gelegenheit dazu sehen, zu schliessen.
Sie finden das KID oder den Hinweis auf seine NichtverfĂŒgbarkeit unter den Handelsbedingungen fĂŒr jedes Instrument direkt auf der Plattform.
Oddly enough I already got a mail from them about FIDLEG two weeks ago where the last paragraph was:
Abschliessend möchten wir Sie daran erinnern, dass CornĂšrtrader als reine AusfĂŒhrungsplattform arbeitet, ĂŒber die Kunden Finanztransaktionen in ihrem eigenen Namen ausfĂŒhren. Aus diesem Grund fĂŒhrt CornĂšrtrader keine PrĂŒfung der Eignung und Angemessenheit von Transaktionen durch und bietet keine Beratungsleistungen an.
It sounds to me like they were planning to keep offering all ETFs but for some reason they changed their mind within the last two weeks.
I donât hold any US ETFs at CornĂšrtrader but I do at Interactive Brokers. Letâs hope this wonât affect IB.
âŠor 2 people wrote this without talking to each other?
Itâs certainly not professional.
Swissquote wrote this below not long ago:
To sum it up, as long as we donât advise you, you are on your own, buy what you want. We advise you to read the documentation of the products you buy, so that in case you lose your money you canât say we didnât tell you to do your due diligence.
" Am 1. Januar 2020 sind das Bundesgesetz ĂŒber die Finanzdienstleistungen (FIDLEG) und die zugehörige Verordnung (Verordnung ĂŒber die Finanzdienstleistungen, FIDLEV) in Kraft getreten. Ab ihrem Inkrafttreten ist eine Ăbergangsfrist von zwei Jahren vorgesehen, sodass die meisten Bestimmungen ab dem 1. Januar 2022 wirksam werden. Wir haben unsere allgemeinen GeschĂ€ftsbedingungen mit der EinfĂŒhrung von speziellen Bestimmungen zu den folgenden Elementen bereits an dieses neue Gesetz angepasst:
** Keine ĂberprĂŒfung der Eignung oder Angemessenheit Ihrer Anlagen seitens unserer Bank, soweit sich unsere TĂ€tigkeiten auf die AusfĂŒhrung und die Ăbermittlung von AuftrĂ€gen beschrĂ€nken (Art. 3.3 und 3.4)."*
"
*3.3 Ist nichts anderes vereinbart, beschrÀnken sich die *
*Verpflichtungen der Bank in Bezug auf Transaktionen *
*allein auf die AusfĂŒhrung von Leistungen. Die Bank wird *
*im Rahmen der dem Kunden bereitgestellten reinen *
*AusfĂŒhrungsdienstleistungen keine ĂberprĂŒfung der *
*Eignung oder Angemessenheit vornehmen. Diese *
*Informationen werden dem Kunden nur einmal in diesen *
*Allgemeinen GeschĂ€ftsbedingungen zur VerfĂŒgung *
*gestellt und werden nicht jedes Mal wiederholt, wenn der *
Kunde eine Transaktion eingeht.
*3.4 Vor der Investition in ein bestimmtes Finanzinstrument *
*sollte der Kunde alle Prospekte, Term Sheets, *
*wesentlichen Informationen fĂŒr den Anleger und *
*Finanzberichte, die in Bezug auf die betreffenden *
*Finanzinstrumente veröffentlicht wurden, sorgfÀltig *
*durchlesen. Wenn sie nicht auf den Handelsplattformen *
*angezeigt werden, stellt die Bank dem Kunden auf *
*Anfrage elektronische Kopien dieser Dokumente zur *
*VerfĂŒgung, sofern sie erstellt wurden und die Bank sie *
vorab erhalten hat."
It looks like we are going to lose access?
VT is still available at Yuh. And if anything is a retail (and not âprofessional investorâ) broker, that one is.
So⊠canât we just chill about it and at least wait for the new year?
I canât chill. This impact is massive.
And what can you do about it? There are things you can influence, and there others you canât. Not being able to buy VT anymore at IBKR would be in the latter category.
Itâs not.
Yes, VT may be slightly more tax- and cost-efficient than the Irish equivalent, but we are talking fractions of a percent here. Maybe one percent every five years? Thatâs not the end of the world.
You lose more due to market timing every time youâre investing your yearly bonus as a lump sum.
I invest solely in VTI in IBKR. The rest of the world is covered by Viac and ValuePension.
So I need to switch to an irish ETF with 500-600 stocks instead of 3500 stocks, 0.1% higher TER and ~0.33% unrecoverable lost dividends.
Thatâs huge.
Just buy it through options then, not so different.
VTI at 239.20 USD means you need to have 24k for buying one option. Might be a bit expensive.
Those 500-600 stocks are responsible for 90-95% of the allocation (just briefly checked the biggest 120 stocks in VTI, and they make up 60.59% of VTI allocation already)
You wonât end up sleeping under a bridge. The âhugeâ part you are referring to is not so huge in reality (only on very long timeframes - and even then itâs small compared to your total net worth).
Even if I canât buy VT anymore, Iâll rather spend my time thinking about how I can earn more than to stress about 0.1% TER.
Plus just wait for when you reach 2M nw, then you can switch back to US ETF if you fancy it.
Personally I also hedged by buying 1 share of VT (even if I donât use it in my allocation), since they could decide to forbid opening position but still allow existing ones to have buy orders (the law allows that possibility, but anyway up to each broker as to what they do, even if they can leave things open they can go well beyond what the law asks, like UBS did).
Anyway, if thereâs someone that should stop offering it, itâs Yuh, they canât really claim itâs execution only (unlike most other brokers) since afaik they have an allowlist for securities you can buy. Iâm still surprised their legal dept let them do that 
What I could and probably should do is revise my fund portfolio from the current ~10 funds down to 1-3, assuming theyâll let us keep the funds we already have.
Tell me more! 2M is around the corner, but I guess you mean I should have 2M in IBKR, thatâs probably never going to happenâŠ
How likely is that to happen?
Should I buy 1 of each ETF I plan on buying in the future?
Itâs across your holdings (only liquid ones though, so canât count RE).
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2019/758/en#art_5
As usual thereâs nothing forcing a broker to give you access to a market, even if the law allows it, but if thereâs a broker thatâs going to allow opt out, itâs IB (they already have the process in place for EU customers afaik).
Honestly, if their legal dept is comfortable with allowing increasing existing position, theyâre probably also comfortable with using the execution only clause and let people continue trading US ETFs as usual, Iâm just hedging 
Maybe not impossible to qualify, given how vague this is:
âon the basis of comparable experience in the financial sector, they possess the necessary knowledge to understand the risks associated with the investmentsâ
Math is off. US stocks are âonlyâ about 60 percent of this fund, and their average dividend yields are lower (about 2%) than other countries. Edit: actually, for MSCI USA itâs about 1.3% at the moment.
For non-US stocks, the difference is probably negligible.