Depending on bank, initial should be between 1k - 3k SGD.

Whether you need CDP depends on the online trading platform. Most banks need CDP but there are some banks such as standard chartered that act as custodians for your shares where you dont need a CDP account.

Personally i would recommend standard chartered as they dont have a minimum commission and charge about .22% commission per trade. Other trading platforms also charge similar commissions with min 25SGD charge.Downside to this is that if you change to other brokers, you cannot transfer your share from custodian to them. You need to transfer from custodian to CDP and link the CDP to your new broker and there will be some charge for the transfer.

You can view the comparison of the brokers below

Will there penalty us?  if we open cdp account and we don't invest? Probably just credit fund for purchase on9, saving and etc

Standard chartered look fine but only valid to monitor via web, probably that's the reason haha 😂

No Penalty. I opened my CDP account with DBS 5 years ago, never used it to buy shares.  Make sure you have some transactions with your savings account every 2-3 years though, or it may be flagged for inactivity.

Noted with thanks.

Transaction must be done via the counter/atm or via online will do ? to keep it active ?

If base on Malaysia ATM/Debit - will be inactive if you doesn't utilize it although you have made transfer or credit fund into the accounts via online.

Thanks.

Thank you for the info. Will let my dad know. It will be up to him to follow up on requirement and decide to proceed or not.

He has reached age to withdraw EPF but still keeps most of his money there.

If Zimbabwe levels of hyperinflation hits Malaysia (very, very unlikely), I can still rebound because I am young. It is the oldies that cannot take chances with their nest eggs.

You mentioning standard chartered trading account has jogged my mind back to end of 2013. I did consider Standard Chartered but did not find any examples of people who manage to open Standard Chartered bank account as non-resident in lowyat as opposed to DBS bank. Furthermore, I was a bit nervous about the fact that account is nominee account.

Since I am a small timer, may as well just go with DBS. Was caught out by how CDP is setup.

I remember I took the overnight KTM sleeper train to Singapore. It was RM 80 return for bunk.

You could arrive at early morning by sleeper, open account and take sleeper train back to KL. You don't even need to spend a night in Singapore.

Good man,... bro,...

I'm Hansel,.. not really active in this thread,.. just came across it today.

YES, just go with DBS, you can withdraw from almost anywhere when you are in Sgp, lots of ATMs all over the island. IF you have an acct with DBS Vickers, you can use the Cash Upfront facility to buy stocks. Minimum SGD 18 only, percentage I think around 0.18%. Lowest brokerage in Sgp, right ?

Recently, DBS has included Msia into its listing of banks where we can do an online TT to Malaysia, and there will be no fees for this TT. So you can move your money in and out without charges.

I would advise you to open a Maybank Singapore Acct too, then you would be able to convert RM into the SGD and TT to Maybank Singapore with only RM10.

Have you ever considered buying and holding SG REITs ?

Yup DBS is the lowest by% at 0.18%, but there is a minimum charge of SGD 18. Stan chart does not have a minimum and charges 0.20%. Therefore if you use DBS you need at least SGD 9000 per trade to break even (both buying and selling). For me i am a small time trader ~ 2-3k SGD per trade so i went with Stan Chart

Good man,... bro,...

I'm Hansel,.. not really active in this thread,.. just came across it today.

YES, just go with DBS, you can withdraw from almost anywhere when you are in Sgp, lots of ATMs all over the island. IF you have an acct with DBS Vickers, you can use the Cash Upfront facility to buy stocks. Minimum SGD 18 only, percentage I think around 0.18%. Lowest brokerage in Sgp, right ?

Recently, DBS has included Msia into its listing of banks where we can do an online TT to Malaysia, and there will be no fees for this TT. So you can move your money in and out without charges.

I would advise you to open a Maybank Singapore Acct too, then you would be able to convert RM into the SGD and TT to Maybank Singapore with only RM10.

Have you ever considered buying and holding SG REITs ?

Hey Hansel,

Thanks for the info regards the TT - via Bank - ( bank rate ) isn't that bit expensive ?

Do we need to declare ? if any amount above 10kUSD  or something ? if not mistaken i listed on the BNM ruling. ( In / Out) per day limitation ?

I think any amount above 50k there will be slight check through the account.

If that's the case probably we could just partially credit our fund yet no exceeding 10k USD .
Btw were you guy's work in financial institute ? Hansel / orangbulu ?

You guys seems bit experience in placing share's , mind share me some sweet and candy so that i enjoy aswell

I work in FMCG industry, Supply Chain/ operations work. 0 finance experience.

I bought some shares on SGX and did my research on the brokerages, therefore i can share my experience with you. Also I used to work in SG and majority of my money is in SG, which is why i know a bit about Singapore banking in general.

My personal opinion is that Bursa stocks are in general better than SGX. SGX probably only has 30-50 companies worth looking into. Too many penny shares from China. If i were living in Malaysia and want to diversify, I would buy US stocks instead.

Hey Hansel,

Thanks for the info regards the TT - via Bank - ( bank rate ) isn't that bit expensive ?

Do we need to declare ? if any amount above 10kUSD  or something ? if not mistaken i listed on the BNM ruling. ( In / Out) per day limitation ?

I think any amount above 50k there will be slight check through the account.

If that's the case probably we could just partially credit our fund yet no exceeding 10k USD .
Btw were you guy's work in financial institute ? Hansel / orangbulu ?

You guys seems bit experience in placing share's , mind share me some sweet and candy so that i enjoy aswell

I work in FMCG industry, Supply Chain/ operations work. 0 finance experience.

I bought some shares on SGX and did my research on the brokerages, therefore i can share my experience with you. Also I used to work in SG and majority of my money is in SG, which is why i know a bit about Singapore banking in general.

My personal opinion is that Bursa stocks are in general better than SGX. SGX probably only has 30-50 companies worth looking into. Too many penny shares from China. If i were living in Malaysia and want to diversify, I would buy US stocks instead.

Hi Qwister,...

Well, that's the rate I've been using all this while.

YES, you need to declare that you do not have loans inside the country if you are going to select 'Investments' as the reason that you are sending your funds overseas. This is in the Form P.

If you going to use the reason of paying for a purchase, you need to show the invoice from the overseas supplier.

I am in the legal industry.

Hoped to be able to advise more in future,...

What about S-reits?

I invest into the SGX and into other foreign bourses too. I agree that we have to be careful of the penny stocks listed in the SGX,... should stay away from them.

I am an income investor, not so much of a trader. Do you know what is the biggest advantage of investing into SG dividend stocks compared to investing into dividend stocks in the Bursa, and into US mkts ?

Hi Hansel,

Do you know what is the max amount we can transfer if the purpose is for investment overseas? Must this payment be made to an investment brokerage account then? What about transfer to own account overseas and the purpose is for investment later?

The reason I invest in SGX is that the majority of my wealth is in SG, and I do intend to settle down in SG for the long term.

I guess the advantage of SG stocks vs US stocks, is that dividends and capital gains are tax exempt. For US Stocks you pay 30% tax.

As for SG vs MY exchanges, i think that Singapore stocks derive a majority of their income from SEA/ Asia pacific, as they dont really have a domestic market, whereas for Malaysia, majority of their income is still from domestic markets. Do correct me if I am wrong on this. But like I said above, If i were living in Malaysia, i would have use US stocks to diversify instead of SG.

You guys give me way too much credit... im not a big time investor... just so happen to have a brokerage account in Singapore 

Where do you guys put your idling SGD while awaiting for opportunities to go into the mkt ?

Non-fd method.  Open a standard chartered esaver account and ocbc 360 account. Both give "high" interest but the caveat is fresh funds only. Keep transferring between both accounts 1st day of the month. Can yield 1% Haha...