hsbc

irishh_bob

im thinking of opening a swiss francs account with hsbc , was told by someone that they really screw you on currency transfers , something like a 4% transaction charge , surely this cant be right ???

Jim2007

irishh_bob wrote: »

im thinking of opening a swiss francs account with hsbc , was told by someone that they really screw you on currency transfers , something like a 4% transaction charge , surely this cant be right ???

Are you planning on moving over here? If so then there are better options...

Jim (in Switzerland)

irishh_bob

Jim2007 wrote: »

Are you planning on moving over here? If so then there are better options...

Jim (in Switzerland)

as much as i like ski-ing , no

perhaps you know off swiss banks who allow foreigners to open accounts though , not talkin about tin pot dictators or billionaires either

around 100 k

Jim2007

irishh_bob wrote: »

as much as i like ski-ing , no

perhaps you know off swiss banks who allow foreigners to open accounts though , not talkin about tin pot dictators or billionaires either

around 100 k

Sorry no, unless you are a Swiss resident, the normal starting deposit is around €2M!

But that aside, I don't see the point in having a CHF account:
- The interest rate is terrible
- The Franc is no longer backed by gold
- The government and the SNB are trying hard to push the Franc down, some are even calling for a devaluation!!!

Most of the non Swiss banking clients actually hold their accounts in Euro or Dollars not Francs. And when they invest, they rarely invest in Switzerland.

And as for HSBC, they have had problems recently keeping client data private! Most tax authorities throughout Europe are willing to pay for Swiss bank client lists and some bank employees are only to happy to do it!

Good luck with that,

Jim.

irishh_bob

Jim2007 wrote: »

Sorry no, unless you are a Swiss resident, the normal starting deposit is around €2M!

But that aside, I don't see the point in having a CHF account:
- The interest rate is terrible
- The Franc is no longer backed by gold
- The government and the SNB are trying hard to push the Franc down, some are even calling for a devaluation!!!

Most of the non Swiss banking clients actually hold their accounts in Euro or Dollars not Francs. And when they invest, they rarely invest in Switzerland.

And as for HSBC, they have had problems recently keeping client data private! Most tax authorities throughout Europe are willing to pay for Swiss bank client lists and some bank employees are only to happy to do it!

Good luck with that,

Jim.

im actually not looking for a tax shelter , just looking for somewhere safe to put savings untill things blow over in ireland

i wasnt aware that thier was a drive to weaken the franc , im of the opinion that the euro is going to weaken , all this volatility with ireland and the other PIGS cannot be healthy for the single currency , as for sterling , while the uk is recovering well , sterling is weak and thats how the britts like it , perhaps canadian dollars are a better option

thanks again for your reply

Jim2007

irishh_bob wrote: »

im actually not looking for a tax shelter , just looking for somewhere safe to put savings untill things blow over in ireland

i wasnt aware that thier was a drive to weaken the franc , im of the opinion that the euro is going to weaken , all this volatility with ireland and the other PIGS cannot be healthy for the single currency , as for sterling , while the uk is recovering well , sterling is weak and thats how the britts like it , perhaps canadian dollars are a better option

thanks again for your reply

Bob,

In case you have not hear we're going through a world wide recession, everyone is screwed to a greater or less or extend, so there is no one safe place! Most countries with strong currencies will seek to push them done either by intervention or devaluation in order to try and kick start their economy. So FX risks should be a big concern of anyone move out of their domestic currency, for the reasons you describe.

Your biggest risk is that you spend too much time listening to the likes of Morgan Kelly, who portray the crisis as being an Ireland only affair! And as result make rash decisions with your money which cause you to suffer real losses as opposed to the perceived ones whipped up by the talking heads!

Here is how I view it:

- The countries of the Euro zone are bound tightly together from an economic point of view and while individual countries may have to bailed out by the others from time to time, over all the currency is as sound as any other. Furthermore the countries involved have demonstrated time and again that they are will and able to defend the currency when required to do so.

- None of the financial institutions across Europe are particularly strong, yes they all passed the ECB stress tests, Irish banks included. But if you look at the new Basle III capital requirements, there is not a bank in Europe that could today meet those requirements!

- The rules for financial risk management have not changed - diversify to reduce risk.

So based on this I would say,

- Avoid FX risks by keeping your money in the Euro

- Spread out about 6 months worth of living expenses over several institutions: post office, credit union, Irish banks, branches of foreign banks and so on.

- Now the hard part, what to do with the rest: I'd put some in the solidarity bond because it is still a good low risk option, possibly buy some European bonds that I could hold to maturity, some solid dividend paying companies like Roche, Novartis or Nestle.... You can take physical position of the certs for this stuff, if you'd prefer.

The bottom line is that no matter what you do, you will be assuming some kind of risks, the trick is to recognize them and manage them by diversification.

Good luck with that,

Jim.

porsche959

Wonder how irishh_bob got on with that account in the end.

mrskinner

Where can I find a list of the Irish holders (350 clients are associated with Ireland. 51% have a Irish passport or nationality) of Swiss Bank Accounts with HSBC?

JohnFalstaff

mrskinner wrote: »

Where can I find a list of the Irish holders (350 clients are associated with Ireland. 51% have a Irish passport or nationality) of Swiss Bank Accounts with HSBC?

Try here:
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/search

Leave the search box blank and enter 'Ireland' on the drop down menu.

It returns a good amount of information on some of the cients involved, but I'm not sure how comprehensive it is.

Via Zerohedge:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-09/if-your-name-list-prepare-be-audited-or-worse

mrskinner

Not the latest list of HSBC Swiss Bank Account holders.

"The database contains ownership information about companies created in 10 offshore jurisdictions including the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and Singapore. It covers nearly 30 years until 2010."

eeepaulo

This appears to have some information, by country, famous people,

People in the comments section are complaining that they do not have access to the database

http://www.icij.org/project/swiss-leaks/explore-swiss-leaks-data

mrskinner

This releases info on 63 people. the other 99,999 are still unnamed.

Bateman

It's great for a nose all the same

mrskinner

So far 2 Irish names?