now, that's the problem.

you are attempting to minimise the risk.

risk averse investors are trying to eliminate risk completely.

australian banks (and banks globally) are typically guaranteed by the federal government

I heard from another friend who follow the currency quite closely said Malaysia is trying to bring down USD back to 2.6 by end of this year. He said RM now is quite strong and by end of years will have 27 countries pumping in RM507b to Malaysia for investment. With this money coming in will surely make RM going up. This is why i am bit concern. If we can minimize losing/risk of course we'll try to avoid even though i know market is hard to predict.

Well, I cant denied with that.

I do believe we have a word "high risk high return"

As you guys looking for foreign FD because intend to get higher return from more than a local FD could provide.

Most people put in FD for long term but in unit trust/fund is looking for long term for stabilize the portfolio.

I cant say it;s risk free, everything had their risk, just lower risk.

Just an opinion because with low return, your money became smaller because of inflation. I believe everyone hope their saving at least be able to kept their value .

That is highly unlikely. Besides, the fundamental of RM is actually quite weak.

Not necessarily so. In the case of the credit crunch in 2008/2009, key interest rates were reduced drastically across the globe mainly to spur spending.

But that was a temporary anomaly right? normally markets are efficient?

Yes, australian banks will yield you one of the best returns globally, but it is also extremely volatile. hence, if the AUD depreciates to a level unacceptable to you, you can always opt to transfer the funds from your australian hsbc premier account to the malaysian equivalent at your discretion with no commission or fee.

but we are talking about 2.6 here (per USD) and not a drop of couple points.

But by then you'd have lost a ton. And spread isn't "technically" a commission or a fee, it's just a difference.

of course, you are absolutely right.

nothing is risk-free.

what i meant earlier, mimics what you will do in a stock market.

if the stock that you are currently holding, is beginning to plunge, an automatic response would be selling them off, to recuperate as much as you can.

it all boils down to your own personal discretion on when to remit the money back

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Added on August 19, 2010, 11:11 am

We were talking about the pre-recession market inertia.

hmm... not quite sure what you mean here.

but i was basically referring to bubbl3t3a's claim that a "close friend" has insider information that the exchange rate will be heading towards 2.6 by end of the year.

with malaysia as an export based country, it is unlikely that Bank Negara will allow RM to appreciate so much that would made our products expensive. We still need foreign investment, thus RM should be maintained as it is now.

hmmm... i don't really buy into such speculations. besides malaysia is a still a FDI dependent nation and i doubt that the central bank will allow us to lose such comparative advantages.

my motto is just to invest with the diversification as a motive and hence don't place everything in australia.

by the way, if you do have NZD600 grand to spare, you really shouldn't be asking such questions in a public forum; opt for a financial planner instead.

i will only answer to questions pertaining to maneuvers and financial products over in australia, as i'm not an expert and do not hold an AFSL.

all my knowledge has been channeled through my degree and hence it may differ in actual life.

IMHO, bankwest typically offer very attractive products and is backed by commonwealth bank of australia (one of the big four). also bear in mind that these products are not precisely term deposits/fixed deposits and hence there is no commitment needed. statements in the spoiler below are quoted from bankwest's website.


yes, australian banks will yield you one of the best returns globally, but it is also extremely volatile. hence, if the AUD depreciates to a level unacceptable to you, you can always opt to transfer the funds from your australian hsbc premier account to the malaysian equivalent at your discretion with no commission or fee.

interests earned are non-taxable if total income earned is kept below AUD6000 per annum. further explanation of personal assessable income tax brackets can be found from the ATO website

You can also look into UBank Online Savers which offers 6.01% standard variable interest rate and 6.51% if you have regular deposits of at least $200 a month, UBank is a division of NAB. And as far as I know when I last closed bank accounts last year, NAB's bank account is the only one without monthly service fee.

I checked the BankWest regular savers, you can only open at a maximum of $500 deposit, and save a maximum of $500 per month, so if you have a large amount of money you can't put all in. UBank has no such restriction.
As for the interest earned, if you are a non-resident you will only have to pay withholding tax at 10% and that's all, this applies to interest and dividends received. The bank automatically withholds it when they pay you interest.

the usual disclaimer rule applies as i'm not providing any personal advice.

you are definitely, what they call a risk-adverse investor; unwilling to participate in risky products and made obvious with questions like Do you think this is the best time to put money in AUD? Will the currency have chances to still going down?

seeing that you actually have NZD600 grand to spare, i would definitely recommend that you first open a malaysian hsbc premier account (however it is likely that you already have one based on your previous statements). but always maintain that account to avoid hefty monthly charges.

then instruct your relationship manager to assist you to open an australian equivalent of hsbc premier account.

with an existing, recognised australian account, you are then exposed to an array to other financial products offered by other banks/financial institutions.

IMHO, bankwest typically offer very attractive products and is backed by commonwealth bank of australia (one of the big four). also bear in mind that these products are not precisely term deposits/fixed deposits and hence there is no commitment needed. statements in the spoiler below are quoted from bankwest's website.


yes, australian banks will yield you one of the best returns globally, but it is also extremely volatile. hence, if the AUD depreciates to a level unacceptable to you, you can always opt to transfer the funds from your australian hsbc premier account to the malaysian equivalent at your discretion with no commission or fee.

interests earned are non-taxable if total income earned is kept below AUD6000 per annum. further explanation of personal assessable income tax brackets can be found from the ATO website

Can we open those account without physical attendance to bank?

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Added on August 23, 2010, 7:54 am

Wonder why need to open account with HSBC premier, then australian equivalent HSBC premier?

Can we just direct open with Bank West?

However it's different for HSBC premier, if you have one in Malaysia, you can automatically open one in Australia without the need to go there, that's the advantage. The other main reason is you can transfer funds in between Australia and Malaysia free of charge and instantly if i'm not wrong, i'm in the process of opening my Australia's premier account heh.

You can also look into UBank Online Savers which offers 6.01% standard variable interest rate and 6.51% if you have regular deposits of at least $200 a month, UBank is a division of NAB. And as far as I know when I last closed bank accounts last year, NAB's bank account is the only one without monthly service fee.

I checked the BankWest regular savers, you can only open at a maximum of $500 deposit, and save a maximum of $500 per month, so if you have a large amount of money you can't put all in. UBank has no such restriction.
As for the interest earned, if you are a non-resident you will only have to pay withholding tax at 10% and that's all, this applies to interest and dividends received. The bank automatically withholds it when they pay you interest.

Can we open those account without physical attendance to bank?

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Added on August 23, 2010, 7:54 am

Wonder why need to open account with HSBC premier, then australian equivalent HSBC premier?

Can we just direct open with Bank West?

Hi all sifus,

May I know the advertised per annum rate is overall return rate or the return in the denominated currency before converting back to MYR?

I'm a little confused. Take AUD as per example from PB Campaign: 6.5% p.a for 1-month tenure.

OK then.

How about these rates:

Currency | 1-month | 3 months | 6 months | 12 months

AUD | 4.50 | 4.65 | 4.85 | 5.30

Still, do these advertised per annum rates refer overall return rate or the return in the denominated currency before converting back to MYR?