Another option is OCBC Wing Hang. Some EU people managed to open company account with this bank on their own, for their HK company.

I don't think your transaction can go through.

Thanks for your reply.  Just fyi, two of my transfers were performed at night with one transfer being done on a Sunday night.

I guess you mean SWIFT/WIRE withdrawal?
I tried BACS and SEPA but they are not so fast.

Oh mean the profit u earned has deduct off commission
and the loss u make added in with commission

good    at least dont need to do calculation on my own

Hi Ramjade. So, by filling income tax I can have partial "refund" from the 30% dividend paid? How much of refund can it be? Is it 50% of the withholding tax as claimed in the first post?

Why would my life be more difficult?

I have heard about FATCA but not quite sure about its impact to us NRAs. Can you elaborate more on this?

Correct...no tax treaty

AFAIK...  nonresident alien is taxed flat rate 30%... so no point in irs filing

I have no idea where this 50% refund comes from. I've not seen it in the irs website

Edit update...ok so 1040NR instructions have 2 examples of incorrect rates on dividend withheld and filing for refund... effectively 15% so maybe this is where it came

As for ETF requirement,

If an accumulating class is not possible, please suggest brokers with dividend reinvestment plans but NO dividend handling charges or any kind of charges. TQ

Minor OT... do they charge a fee for conversion, assuming it like a fx trade? Say you fund in usd n buy stocks in eur in Amsterdam. Thanks

I checked the bank account provided, the currency is in USD.
is there any method I can fund the 1st fund to their bank acc in SG?

Wire Funds to
Citibank N.A.
111 Wall Street
New York 10005
United States

ABA Routing Number
021000089

SWIFT/BIC Code
CITIUS33XXX

Bank Account Title & Address
Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited
Level 20 Heron Tower
110 Bishopsgate
London EC2N 4AY
Bank Account Number
30806988

Of course la good. But for those clearing fees is practically negligible.

Custodian. You can get like a CDS for overseas stock brokerage. Worried about what happen to your money? Read here. All answered in the link below.
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=2334

No need to open both. Both account is owned by interactive broker. Makes no difference. Pick one. If you really want to split go with Charles schwab better. Cheaper than TD Ameritrade. For me I will am not worried about IBKR as
1) they are well capitalised
2) protected by FDIC (US insurance like our PIDM)

Hi Roarus,

Is there any other ETF similar to IWDA, but in other currency like GBP or EUR?
Or it is more advisable to stay with IWDA, in USD?

thanks for the link.. but is it the same "IWDA"?

What i see is the following..
GBP distributing, = IWDG
EUR distributing, = IWLE
USD accumulating, = SWDA
But where is IWDA? 

Is there a GBP accumulating (instead of distributing?)
2nd question,
is currency going to be a concern?
As in USD is on the high side (from the chart).. will there be down side risk?

Because of that, is it better to look into GBP currency ETF as more potential up side?

Guys, what is the minimum shares to buy from LSE?  Can I buy like 50 or even one share?

My base currency is USD.
I will change it to SGD and try again.

I am planning to open Tradestation Global account.

Once I open SG bank account, I send money to Tradestation Singapore bank account correct? No need TT?

But what if I want to buy US stocks, need to convert SGD to MYR again?

If yes then before I can invest, I lost 1% already. 

dwRK, roarus, rjb123 any idea if we used US brokerage like IB but we did not buy/hold US stocks, are we subjected to >60k US estate tax?

Costs: Our charges may be incorporated as a mark-up or mark-down (the difference between the price at which we take a principal position and the transaction execution price with you). The Company’s price quote in many markets already includes our spread and there will be no additional fees or commissions due from you