You have your answer there already. Your account less than USD1k. 
I fund my account with USD5k,  I make sure it's USD5100 hence there no extra fee. Then proceed to buy stocks from them. 
So far I am holding > USD5k with them in stock holdings and no charge. 

Adding USD20 is not safe. Cause possible earlier on your USd1K is not enough. So if say is only worth USD979,  adding USD20 won't solve the problem. Please add like USD100-200 for extra buffer. 

Also open account when you want to buy stuff. Don't open account and let it be idling.

Thanks for finding the source!
There is!

source: I emailed them!

CS: IB would charge $1 minimum activity fee if the account balance is below $1000 and there is no trading in the month.
Me: Just for more clarity, if one has balance above $1000 but with no trading activity in that month, is there a minimum activity fee?
CS: About the minimum activity fee, your understanding is correct. As long as you maintain the account balance over $1000, there is no minimum activity fee.

So u already have US bank account? Shouldn’t have any issue.. if ur question is transferred from Msia bank account to US bank account using instarem.

you were right haha, well i did

MBB SG was definitely good in FAST transfer to IB SG ACCOUNT as in urgent situation where i would need additional fund in my IB account (one way) and MBB SG TO CITI SG is fast whereby cash arrives in IB account within minutes
however when i tried to withdraw from IB to MBB SG, i was not able too, could be caused by this below...

''Clients residing or maintaining an address in a country designated as having elevated AML risk may not withdraw funds to an account located in another country that has elevated AML risk unless they also maintain an address in that country.

Clients residing or maintaining an address in a country designated as having elevated AML risk may not deposit funds from an account located in another country having elevated AML risk unless they also maintain an address in that country.

Clients residing or maintaining an address in a country designated as having elevated AML risk may only withdraw funds to an account from which that client received a first-party deposit.

Clients may only withdraw funds in their base currency, their home country’s currency or common currencies (e.g. USD, EUR, HKD, AUD, GBP, CHF, CAD, JPY and SGD).''

'' IB may restrict the number of banks that a client may send money to, regardless of the domicile of the client or the bank.
Note that clients who attempt to create an online banking instruction or initiate a deposit or withdrawal which is restricted will be blocked from creating that instruction or initiating that transaction and will be presented with an online error message.''

however i was pleased to know the fee for withdrawal for MBB MY was RM 5 and currency was at 3.996 (SELL TT) not big diff (for small amount) from 4.07 (BUY TT)
and conveniently fast within 24 hrs

It's political in nature. Nothing to do with TD. Malaysia govt don't like anything with Forex involvement hence the ban.
Basically the ban tells you Malaysian govt won't help you out if TD close shop.
Now who will you trust? MAS SG or BNM?

No need to be paranoid. Just ignore Bnm. Just continue using TD.

Your concerns are legitimate. The best protection IBKR offers you is the SIPC insurance protection in case the broker goes bust. You are protected up to 500k USD, including 250k USD of cash.

You can file a claim here when IB is in trouble or your assets are transferred to a trustee.

As far as I know, Malaysia does not have such an insurance scheme. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I do know SIDREC

But that is more of a dispute resolution center rather than a post-hoc claiming facility.

------------------

As for regulation, not familiar with legislative stuffs. Maybe Hansel can help you.

As far as I know, US brokers are self-regulated, whereas MY brokers are regulated under SC. Surely the later has less conflicts of interest than the former. To be fair, IB has had issues before.

Financially the are still strong on liquidity and profitability. You can check the quarterly reports and SEC filings for this.
Bro, have you woken up yet?

"They ban", "regulated", "to legitimate"

Treating patients can be tiring...

Your concerns are very real,.... because your asset size is respectable now.

I keep a large proportion of my assets in SG banks and one European bank. Other brokers - smaller amts,...

If your stocks are SGX counters, transfer them to the CDP or into other brokers owned by SG banks,... I would do this.

Anyway, after seeing what tadashi987 has received from IB earlier, I have applied to convert my account to IBKR US LLC. They replied me the conversion process is a "manual process" which takes 2-3 weeks. You need to open a new IBKR account (under the same username and login credentials) and IB will transfer your funds from your current IB UK account to the new IB LLC account.

Still in progress. I initiated the transfer last week. Will update you guys here when it's done.