US ETFs no longer purchasable in Europe

AIB to Firstrade wire fees are $25. No idea about conversion fees as I have a dollar account with AIB.

With regard to opening the firsttrade account - you are asked for the following:

Foreign Tax ID Number (FTIN)
A Tax ID Number issued by your country of residence. If a FTIN is not available, a reasonable explanation must be provided.

Is this the PPSN in our case?

I use CurrencyFair to convert my euros to dollars and also to perform the wire. Unfortunately there’s a $25 fee charged by Bank of America during the wire but you get 3 free transfers from CurrencyFair when you sign up.

Linkstr wrote: »

Hey !
I would like to buy some ETFs, unfortunately I do not have the 10k$ required to open an account with IB (actually I have them on my Degiro account, but I don't want to seel everything to buy on the IB account).
So I've opened an account with Firstrade, but I'm really concerned about the transfer and the currency conversion fees... I would like to transfer 4$k soon but I don't want to loose too much money - does anyone have any experience with them ?

jive wrote: »

Can anyone breakdown what the best route into US ETFs is now that we've been screwed with PRIIPS? Has anyone successfully transferred over to a US broker (who is living in Ireland at the moment)?

Seems it will be much more expensive with conversion fees etc. but still a preferable alternative to being exposed to the deemed disposal rule.

The choices are pretty simple, but require work on your part.

If you are investing over $100k, then Interactive Brokers is the way to go imo, from an ease of funding and transaction fee point of view. If your Interactive Brokers account is less than $100k then there are monthly fees. See here.
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=4969
Their trading commissions are minimal. See here.
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1590&p=stocks1
Pros: You fund your account in Euros, so no bank charges on either side and transfers done quickly, very good rates on exchange rates if you are moving your euros to another currency.
Cons: Monthly fees (?) and the website not the most user friendly.

If Interactive Brokers isn't the one for you, then it looks like Firstrade ($2.95 per trade) or Ameritrade ($6.95 per trade), both of which take Irish clients (unless the rules have changed recently). You will have to fund either one in dollars. I cannot say what the costs of the Bank transfer (exchange rate and commission) will be but I would suggest that you speak to your bank and find out exactly what you will be charged (both exchange rate and commission). Obviously if you are transferring $50 per month then it will be totally uneconomical, bank exchange rates and fees will absolutely murder you. However if you are doing a large one-off transfer then the bank exchange rates and fees might not be that prohibitive.
Pros: Ease of use
Cons: Transferring to and from your account, and the currency risk.

Nobody can tell you definitively what to do (imo), you need to work it out for yourself depending on your own particular circumstances and future plans.

All 3 brokers offer some commission free ETF's, but the commissions involved for all 3 are pretty low anyway.

Is there a consensus on what the best course of action is?

Is there a chance of the 8 year tax being changed before it comes due?

Opening a brokerage account in the US seems to be a pain for regular deposits in order to take advantage of cost-averaging with the currency conversion and wire fees.

A quick FYI, I was able to purchase VT (Vanguard ETF) on Keytrade today, despite not having a KID. You have to do a little questionaire and acknowledge that you understand that the KPI is not available but it worked. I'll be moving money out of DeGiro. The big downside is Belgiums crazy "speculation tax" but for a buy and hold situation it's ot an issue

Here's the exact wording:
The Key Information Document is currently not available. We do take all necessary measures to get this document from the manufacturer of this instrument. If you would like to place your order without this document, please click here

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

If its that easy to avoid, DeGiro should have this up and running shortly (or they might take ages because there's little or no money for brokers in ETFs).

Apparently it depends on how the host country implemented the directive. So no guarantee it will ever be allowed in DeGiro

Skelet0n wrote: »

How's your experience been with keytrade? Fees, customer service etc?

Haven't had much interaction with them wrt, customer service but in general it's been issue free. Fees are good for buy and hold. I'm not a regular trader so the transaction costs are not significant for me. I opened the account years ago when there wasn't many alternatives

Diarmuid wrote: »

A quick FYI, I was able to purchase VT (Vanguard ETF) on Keytrade today, despite not having a KID. You have to do a little questionaire and acknowledge that you understand that the KPI is not available but it worked. I'll be moving money out of DeGiro. The big downside is Belgiums crazy "speculation tax" but for a buy and hold situation it's ot an issue

Here's the exact wording:
The Key Information Document is currently not available. We do take all necessary measures to get this document from the manufacturer of this instrument. If you would like to place your order without this document, please click here

How did you get an account?
I sent off the relevant documents and received “Thank you for your email.


To open an account at Keytrade it is required to have a Belgian ID and a official address in Belgium.

Thank you for your understanding.


Kind Regards,


Customer Service Keytrade Bank“

Anyone have experience with internaxx or lynx?

They both appear to offer US ETFs and accept Irish clients.

An_Toirpin wrote: »

Are these European brokers?

Yes. Internaxx is owned by TD Ameritrade from their Luxembourg subsidiary.
Lynx is headquartered in Amsterdam but has offices all across Europe.

Skelet0n wrote: »

Yes. Internaxx is owned by TD Ameritrade from their Luxembourg subsidiary.
Lynx is headquartered in Amsterdam but has offices all across Europe.

Are you sure they are based in Europe. I thought if they are based in Europe they would be having the same problems as Degiro that the likes of Vanguard are not supplying the required KID documents as so cannot be sold in Europe.

However at the moment, many foreign listed investment management providers do not yet have these Key Investor Information Document/Key Information Documents (KIID/KID), which detail the key features, risks, rewards and costs of the product, available in the local language of the investors.

Paul Laverty, spokesman for Dutch online stockbroker Degiro, says that in practice, this means that some foreign listed products have become temporarily unavailable to purchase for Irish investors.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/new-eu-regulations-exclude-irish-investors-from-certain-investments-1.3343801

Skelet0n wrote: »

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Are you sure they are based in Europe. I thought if they are based in Europe they would be having the same problems as Degiro that the likes of Vanguard are not supplying the required KID documents as so cannot be sold in Europe.



https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/new-eu-regulations-exclude-irish-investors-from-certain-investments-1.3343801

A few posts up, someone says they are available with keytrade which is Belgian.

They would still need to provide KIDs and if they are doing it for a Belgian stockbroker, can't see why they wouldn't do it for Degiro.

Diarmuid wrote: »

Apparently it depends on how the host country implemented the directive. So no guarantee it will ever be allowed in DeGiro

Just in case it's any use, my German broker (comdirect-sorry, I think it's German only and only open to German residents) also just requires me to check a box that I understand that this document is not available when I go to set up an ETF savings plan etc. so I think it could well be country specific.

you can buy them as an Irish citizen through firstrade.com