lol treat me like laboratory white mice. Like me ask Takudan for a second opinion. I remember she executed trades on CHF-denominated securities before. Maybe she can share something.

I actually found a way to estimate the charges without needing to fund CHF. Just enter the amount of shares to buy with limit price, then pretend to execute the order as if you have cash, then the order confirmation box will pop up. The box will tell you how much cash in CHF is needed for the execution, minus that cash from the number of shares to buy times the buy limit price, you get the commissions charged.

Here's what I notice:

BATECH, CHIXCH, and TRQXCH are the cheapest at 1.53-1.54 CHF for a few hundreds CHF of trade (~300 CHF). So using SMART is not the best choice, the commission is higher, similar to EBS. EBS is very expensive at 3.38 CHF per trade. It seems like the SMART routing defaults to EBS (i.e. shows trade with 3.38 CHF commission).

With money coming in just a moment ago. Indeed I can confirm BATECH is the cheapest at 1.52-1.54 CHF per trade. Thanks for your help.

Do you know where to find real-time quotes for SIX-listed shares. I checked many sites like investing.com, the official SIX group page and Google Finance but the quotes are always delayed by 15 minutes.

Kind of scary if you are a trader (luckily I am not).

Short tutorial for funding IBKR with Swiss Franc (CHF) via Wise multicurrency account balance

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=103456385

(Cross-posted with Wise multicurrency account thread)

Never mind. Thanks for your help.

No problem. I think the old commission rates don't apply with IBKR anymore, so it's fine.

The funny names are exchanges actually: https://www.interactivebrokers.com.hk/en/in...f=1562&p=europe

EBS is the actual Swiss Stock Exchange (Swiss Electronic Bourse), run by SIX. https://www.nasdaq.com/glossary/s/swiss-electronic-bourse

By the way, just curious what Swiss stocks did you buy last year? Nestle? Roche? Novartis?

lol Nestle yes. What was your average price?

Nestle, Roche and Novartis together account for 50% of SMI index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Market_Index (each account for 17% weighting).

Roche is a well-known big pharma stock, second only to JNJ. It is well-known for its unusual corporate structure, where the Roche family control 18-20% of shares but have large voting rights of 50% or more. So there are 2 shares, RO (with higher voting rights, but with low liquidity since majority are held by the Roche family) and ROG (no voting rights, but more liquid). ROG (34x ++) is cheaper than RO (39x ++) as people value the rights to vote. As a return for the "stripped" voting rights, the Roche family has kept the balance sheet of the company in very good shape, their net debt is just a few months of earnings and AA3 rated, similar in level to Nestle. https://wikirating.org/list-of-corporations...-credit-rating/

Novartis balance sheet a bit worse than Nestle and Roche (A-range rating), but I like their generic drug division, Sandoz for revenue diversification (barring their price fixing litigation issue). Roche and Nestle both has a Level I ADR in US, but they can only be traded OTC (they don't file 20-F) and I can't buy them on IBKR even after checking all US trading permissions. Novartis has a Level II ADR that trades actively on NYSE however.

As for fractional shares, I remember I saw fractional shares options in the drop down box, you can see the screenshot below:



I have not tried them though.

Another suggestion for dividend reinvestment is since Novartis share price is very low compared to Roche and Nestle, you can use the dividends earned from Nestle and Novartis to buy Novartis, if the amount is not too small. Novartis share price is around 7x CHF, compared to Roche 34x and Nestle 11x. Otherwise, you can look at the SMI Index list (link above) and see if you can find other counters to buy. UBS, Zurich Insurance, ABB, Alcon etc. In the worst case, just keep the CHF and it will appreciate vs MYR over the long run.

Regarding conversion, I have shown that you can use Wise multicurrency account to fund CHF in IBKR, you can try that too (keep the fund origination document as proof though).

As for investment portion, 3 counters should account for around 7-10% of a 30-40 stock portfolio, but as keep adding other shares into it, can expect that number to drop further to 3-5% over time. Now queuing for ROG and NESN.

Hello. To select different exchange, after you have selected the number of shares to buy, the limit price and the order type (day/GTC limit, market etc.), click on the "advanced" button as shown in the screenshot below, then click on the "Destination" button to change the exchange where your orders will be routed.



Here you see the different routes/exchanges available. EBS is the default Swiss Stock Exchange electronic trading venue, and the most expensive one. BATS Europe (BATECH) is a low-cost alternative you can consider.



I didn't realize one's name would appear on the Wise transfer receipt. I will check later. Thanks for the heads-up.

No, I don't use IB's dividend reinvestment service. Not sure if Takudan does that, you can ask her. By default, if I understand correctly, once you choose dividend reinvestment, IB will automatically buy more shares of the parent company which pays the dividends like what you do with buying shares as usual. Standard IB fixed/tiered pricing commissions still apply though. If the amount is too low for a board lot purchase, then IB will pay you the dividend as cash. (Not sure with fractional shares whether IB will reinvest your dividends for US shares, you can open a ticket with IB's customer service to ask in advance.)

The dividend reinvestment program applies to all shares. You either elect to receive in cash, or IB reinvest all the dividends on behalf of you. There is no settings to choose which shares' dividends to be reinvested and which one not to. (See screenshot below)



Regarding taxation. have a read here: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...#entry102601156

and here: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...#entry103087454

As for how much you can claim back, have a look at this: https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/switzerland/co...thholding-taxes

15% for Malaysia tax residents. So you can claim back 20%.

Hope that helps.

Yes, I have shown you the pwc link, you CAN claim back 20% if you are a Malaysian tax resident. Just download the Snapform Viewer program and "form 60" and fill it up. Mail it to Switzerland and wait for money to return to the bank account you stated in the form.

Note that you need to pay for the mailing from Malaysia all the way to Switzerland, so if the dividends to be claimed back is less than the mailing package, DO NOT reclaim any dividend as you will lose more.

Don't forget about such frictional cost in reclaiming taxes. It's marginal benefit and marginal cost that matters here, not the absolute amount.

So, in other words, you won't get back 20% but a bit less than that.

This post has been edited by TOS: Jan 26 2022, 02:29 PM

lol Read the instructions

There are 3 pages in form 60, last page is the instruction. Follow that and you will be fine. Referring to item 15 and 16 (in the last page), you need to go LHDN office and ask for certification that you are a resident of Malaysia and provide the stamp at the bottom of page 2.





As for how to claim back extra tax from France, Germany and Japan. Good question. To quote from our friend Hansel, why not you email their tax office and ask, then let us know.

I have emailed Swiss and Taiwan tax authorities before, you can do the same for any country too.

For those who are in Swiss shares but need some real-time data for reference, here is one: https://www.investing.com/indices/switzerland-20-futures

SMI 20 futures. It's real-time and since the Nestle, Novartis and Roche account for half of it, you can have a general sense of the market movement.

This post has been edited by TOS: Jan 26 2022, 04:07 PM

Thanks a lot!

Bought Nestle at 118, confirmed commission on BATECH is 1.53 CHF.

100 CHF. That's 18 CHF below me. Nice timing.

ADR level 2 and 3 only differ in that for the case of level 3, the company actually raises capital on the exchange itself, so they have to file an additional F-3 form (e.g. TSMC). For level 2, the underlying shares are actually in the home market (e.g. Unilever and Novartis). Each shares bought and sold on the exchange is just "an illusion". You can think of Level 3 as a secondary offering of some sort. So it's "a bit safer", since new filling usually means more information disclosure under SEC rules. But after public trading, the 2 levels (2 and 3) are pretty much the same.

Regarding the fractional shares case, perhaps your dividend amounts are smaller than board lot? You may want to check with IB customer service.

Default currency can be any currency, it does not affect the deposit process. I have written a short guide here: https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=103456385

You can have a look.

At least I got this when I want to buy.



By the way, OTC pink sheets ADR are not as liquid as exchange versions. You need to take that into account.

Back then Wise multicurrency account wasn't available yet, so you need to do double transfer in IBKR as IB does not have a SGD.CHF or CHF.SGD currency pair. Now you have more alternatives.

This post has been edited by TOS: Jan 27 2022, 12:12 PM

A bit old by now. They previously had it with borderless account, then stopped the service, and now made available again.

Same as last one, just name change. From "borderless" to "multicurrency".

Not sure, I didn't use it back then. Let me ping Ramjade dwRK

Actually you can open a currency balance in HKD.



They accept 50 or so currencies. https://wise.com/help/articles/2897238/whic...my-wise-account

These are the ones with account details.

No, you can use CHF and JPY, just that no account details will be given and Wise "transacts on behalf of you".

Nice finding there. If you find their instructions not clear, just email them.