How To Open Hong Kong Bank Account

[Geoff Thomas]

I have Philippine bank accounts already but wondered if you all out there had any info on Hong Kong.

I am looking into opening an account in Hong Kong and also change currency away from the GBP, all signs according to a lot of financial wizards I know say that the GBP is 1/3rd overvalued and for sure it will collapse! Not IF but When this happens I don't want to have my savings raped. I am rushing to get this sorted, maybe some on here can give advice, I have peso accounts but with my business I can easily ask customers to pay money in HK. Also these financial wizards are all pointing to China, Japan & Malaysia to have your currencies in. Peso is damn strong and I have some here already but too many variables that could collapse the peso at any time.

[Beachboy]

you might consider HSBC internet banking .. or you could open an account in their Hong Kong branch .. they offer savings and CD accounts in HK dollars, renminbi, yen and others. 

 

I'm not an economist (I trade futures in Nasdaq and Korean exchanges), but you might want to do some more research before you move your money around.  The Philippines just received an upgrade in it's credit worthiness by Fitch to a BB+.  This is considered an investment grade rating.  If the Peso were on the verge of collapse, it's ratings wouldn't be going up.

Foreign investment, rather than currency speculation, is making the peso stronger.  The economy grew at 7% last yaer (second fastest in Asia behind China) and is expected to grow at another 7% this year.  The Philippine bank has lowered interest rates to slow down foreign investment (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-12/philippine-peso-drops-by-most-in-a-week-on-sda-rate-cut-outlook.html).  -- this is something strong economies do, not weak ones.

The growth and investment is likely to push the Peso up against the dollar (and also up against the HK dollar because the two are pegged together).  So there is a good chance that you'll suffer some loss in you move your money into other Asian currencies.  If you simply want security, then  convert the Peso to US $.  You can't get any safer.  (Disclaimer -- free advice is sometimes worth what you pay for it ..  :cheersty: )

[Thomas]

 If you simply want security, then  convert the Peso to US $.  You can't get any safer.

Good post, but I don't agree to this part.

US dollars has developed among the WORST currencies  :)  for a while now, e g almost got HALFED value compared to Swedish krona since a bit over 10 years ago... (Close to 12:1 down to a bit over 6:1.)

 

(I believe the German economy has developed better than the Swedish during the last years, but Germany belong to Euro currency, which is draged down by bad economy in some other Euro countries.

South East Asian economies have developed even significant better than the Swedish economy, and I believe it will go on so (if the coruption don't mess up to much.) That a reason I plan to move there  :)

[i am bob]

The world's economies are in terrible shape right now.

 

The Euro is being dragged down, the American $ is playing yoyo and so is anybody else attached to it in any way, and the Chinese are going to see their currency drop out of orbit completely if they keep giving all their money to the rich party members and letting the people of China know about it.  In fact, the only reason the Chinese hasn't dropped excessively so far is they are being artificially bouyed up by countries such as the US who had a lot of their debt and bonds purchased by the Chinese.  As soon as the Chinese Yuan drops sufficiently, you will see them calling in all the debts and dumping all the bonds back on the market at a low price - and the next Great Depression will begin.  Either that or the aliens observing us from the planet Uranus will finally stop on Earth and order a Big Mac with fries...  That is sure to start the next InterStellar War!

 

:dance:

[Markham]

The reason the Peso is so strong is government policy. The Arroyo administration kept the Peso at a low rate in order to attract inwards foreign investment, a policy that largely didn't work but for other reasons. The Aquino administration is capitalising on the billions that pour into this country month on month from OFWs. By pegging the Peso at an artificially high level, it obtains foreign currency reserves far cheaper than its economy deserves and you can expect the Pound to be in the mid-fifties (or lower) within the next few months and will likely end the year at around the 50-52 level. Things will not improve so long as the current, cheap to run, fiscal policy remains.

 

Jeff, accounts at HSBC are definitely your best option and even if you do not qualify for free banking as a Premier customer (Php 7M is the minimum for free banking), I would still advise opening Premier accounts if you are likely to be transferring cash between accounts on a regular basis as that's completely free for Premier customers but normal account holders pay fees and charges each time. The Premier people can arrange for multiple currency accounts to be nominally held here and/or, up to you, in other countries too. Since all those accounts will be linked, you can access your accounts (regardless of where in the world they are) from the comfort of your armchair and all transfers between them are immediate. This means you can choose where in the world you want to hold the bulk of your funds and yet still have immediate access to them. If you're canny, that won't the Philippines (due to the FDIC limit) but you would be wise to have accounts in the UK (tax is not payable). HSBC does give better rates of exchange to its Premier customers and its ATM cards can be used in other banks ATMs - BPI and Chinabank for free, other banks make a small charge. But there is a 24/7/365 HSBC ATM within a two minute walking distance of your office!

[Beachboy]

US dollars has developed among the WORST currencies

--Thomas, by "safe" I meant that the economy is in no danger of collapsing ... so you will not lose your money through bank failure or currency collapse (as is happening in Crete right now).  

The US Fed has pursued a 0% interest policy for several years now but has no trouble selling Treasury Bonds. Other countries buy the bonds not because they expect a profit but because it is a safe place to keep their money.  

 

A strong currency is good for individuals but not necessarily good for a country.  Your Swedish Kroner will buy twice as many dollars as it would ten years ago.  That's good for you when you visit the US.  A Swedish business will find the US an attractive place open a plant because it's Kroner will buy more dollars, so a "weak" currency is good for the US economy. It also makes American exports cheap for foreign buyers and it  pulls a lot of money into the US stock markets.  But it's not so good for Americans who live or travel overseas. 

 

Bob .. you're such a pessimist!  

[Dave Hounddriver]

I have had more than a handful of expats let it be known that they keep their funds in Singapore.  Perhaps it is something you want to look into.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_Singapore

[Mike S]

I have had more than a handful of expats let it be known that they keep their funds in Singapore.  Perhaps it is something you want to look into.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_Singapore

 

Yes sir ... I wanted to but had no way of knowing how to go about it .... not even sure about how long or what it would take to become able to open a bank account there ... :cheersty:

[Thomas]

--Thomas, by "safe" I meant that the economy is in no danger of collapsing ... so you will not lose your money through bank failure or currency collapse (as is happening in Crete right now).   The US Fed has pursued a 0% interest policy for several years now but has no trouble selling Treasury Bonds. Other countries buy the bonds not because they expect a profit but because it is a safe place to keep their money.  

ok.

Yes, safe concerning collapse, 

but not sure if the currency value has reached bottom  :)    Fights, between president and other powerful parts in US, can reduse the dollar value even more.

A strong currency is good for individuals but not necessarily good for a country.  Your Swedish Kroner will buy twice as many dollars as it would ten years ago.  That's good for you when you visit the US.  A Swedish business will find the US an attractive place open a plant because it's Kroner will buy more dollars, so a "weak" currency is good for the US economy. It also makes American exports cheap for foreign buyers and it  pulls a lot of money into the US stock markets.  But it's not so good for Americans who live or travel overseas. 

Yes, I know. Back in time it was popular to devaluate (=value DOWN) the own currency ON PURPOUSE, when the own country had bad national economy. (=Try to recover by lowering the production cost for own production, to make it less hard to export.) By that they FOOLED the own people by reducing the value of their income (=same amount, but much less worth.)

An important complication is that most international deals are made in US dollars, the world need a stable/strong currency for that to make producers/exporters dare to make long turm deals. As it is now, many feel they have to get some "insurance" of the value of their future exports, already contracted but have to deliver sometimes in the future.

 

Oh does it pulls a lot of money into the US stock market?!

PERHAPS good for SHORT investments,

but in the long run I believe ALL "rich countries" - Sweden too -  are "DOOMED" to get much bader economies, because problem to get PRODUCTION jobs enough to the country, because the salaries are much higher than in countries, where things can be produced instead. A country can't live on just produce services as caretaking for themselves...  :)

Swedish government had recently an investigation concerning how to save Swedish economy for the future. The suggested conclusion is raising the retirement age (I believe 4 years step by step, although Sweden have one of the higher retirement age allready!) They seem to have forgot thinking of what's use of that, when it's a big shortage of jobs already!  Because what's the point with having a lot of more people on unemployment support, instead of retirement pay  (The support sums are similar)...

 

Because of both USA and West Europe national economies are "doomed" to fall down in the long run, I'm planning to move to Phili   :)  

(It's possible the "rich" countries can stay A BIT ahead in the long run too, BUT it's a huge MENTAL problem the citizens have to get comparingly REDUCED salaries, while Eastern Europe and South East Asia get RAISED salaries catching up...)

[Beachboy]

Because both USA and West Europe national economies are "doomed" to fall down in the long run, I'm planning to move to Phili  

Well, if the US and the EU fail, (that's only 40% of the world economy!) I'm not sure it will be much better in the Phils unless you have a fishing pole and your own rice field  :) .  

But this report will be good news for you ... http://business.inquirer.net/116845/peso-rises-as-world-bank-projects-over-6-economic-growth-for-ph.  And the Kroner is very stable against the PHP -- in fact it's gained about 10% in the last year.  So I think you'll do good as long as your wife doesn't take all of your Kroners  :hystery: