So does the banks in Hong Kong.

I believe only Citibank Citigold and HSBC Premier can help you in this regard.

Another alternative is opening a time deposit account with an offshore bank such as HSBC International in Singapore/Hong Kong or Citi International Personal Bank also in Singapore/Hong Kong.

HSBC International Premier rates (1-year tenure) :
A$25,000 - A$59,999 > 3.31%
A$60,000 - A$119,999 > 3.37%
A$120,000 - A$239,999 > 3.56%
A$240,000 - A$599,999 > 3.87%
A$600,000 - A$1,399,999 > 3.87%
A$1,400,000 and above > 4.06%

Citi International Personal Bank Citigold rates (1-year tenure) :
A$26,000 - A$129,999 > 4.54%
A$130,000 - A$326,999 > 4.64%
A$327,000 - A$649,999 > 4.79%
A$650,000 - A$1,299,999 > 4.89%
A$1,300,000 and above > 4.94%

Citibank typically offer better rates nowadays mainly to retain existing high/super high/ultra high net worth clients as well as to lure potential new customers after the 2008 incident. You are qualified for the Citigold time deposit rates as long as you maintain your Citigold status in Malaysia. A minimal fee applies when you want to transfer the money back to your Citibank Malaysia account even if you're a Citibank Malaysia Citigold customer.

The best thing about HSBC Premier is that you can transfer your money in any offshore banking centres, be it Singapore or Hong Kong back to your Malaysia account online via HSBC online banking Global View and HSBC online banking Me-To-Me Transfer. You can transfer up to US$100,000 (or its equivalent) from HSBC International offshore back to HSBC Malaysia via hsbc.com.my. You may increase the limit up to US$1 million. Anything more than US$1 million, you will have to instruct your Premier relationship manager to do it for you. The best thing is that all this transfer is totally FREE !

You might also be glad to know that all the interest earned is totally TAX-FREE !

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Mar 14 2010, 09:11 PM

The main purpose of the majority of Malaysians opening an offshore account is the ease of moving your money around.



Besides the 1-year tenure, you may also choose the 1-month, 3-month, 6-month tenure and so on but the rate will be substantially lower than the 1-year rate.

The only currency that gives you a better rate on shorter tenure rather than 1-year tenure is the US Dollar. Both HSBC International and Citi International Personal Bank both quote higher interest rate for US Dollar time deposit for 6-month tenure only compared to 1-year tenure.



Exactly ! Things are even easier if you already are a HSBC Premier customer ! Basically you just leave them your contact at HSBC Singapore. Those guys in HSBC Singapore will refer your case to their colleagues in HSBC International in Singapore and very soon someone from HSBC International will call you. They will ask you to send them a photocopy of your IC and passport. They will then process your application and you shall receive the welcome package in a week time.

Please note that HSBC Singapore and HSBC International and completely different entities and people working there report and get orders from different bosses. The HSBC International office is located in the same building as HSBC Singapore HQ but those people working in HSBC International will report everything back to HSBC UK and not HSBC Singapore.

This is the same in HSBC Hong Kong and HSBC International in Hong Kong.



Correct !


Yes. This can also be done in HSBC USA, HSBC UK, HSBC Canada, HSBC Hong Kong, HSBC Taiwan, HSBC Singapore, HSBC International offshore etc.





This thing only started in year 2007. The previous HSBC Premier membership did not offer their clients this kind of perks. Standard Chartered is copying all these and offer more or less the same perks as HSBC Premier with their Priority Banking but Standard Chartered is no where as big as HSBC.

The other one is Citibank CitiGold. As long as you maintan your CitiGold status in Malaysia, you'll enjoy the same service and get a CitiGold special time deposit rate should you decide to open an offshore account with them in Singapore or Hong Kong. Citibank started this in late 2008. So, HSBC actually is the first one to offer this kind of service and overall, it is still a lot better than Standard Chartered Priority Banking and Citibank CitiGold.


Please take note that if your total net worth in HSBC Premier Malaysia falls below RM200,000, you will be charged RM150 per month and you will be given 3-month to top-up your fund. Should your total asset under management in HSBC Premier Malaysia is still below the required RM200,000 after the 3-month grace period, they will kick you out of HSBC Premier.



For currency hedging, usually your banker will advise you to play dual currency investment. This kind of investment is designed specially for this purpose.


They won't run away with your money. You will only loss your money when they go bankrupt which is a highly unlikely scenario because the government won't allow it as it poses a systemic risk to the global economy and many people will be affected. Citibank and Bank of America are both very good examples. Besides, a lot of people have a lot more than just RM200,000 with banks like HSBC, Citibank etc.


Spot on !!!

Another advantage is that you'll be given a complimentary credit card in anywhere you hold a HSBC Premier account. It is very common for a US citizen who is a HSBC Premier client to hold several credit cards issued by HSBC from several different countries such as HSBC Delaware USA, HSBC Canada and HSBC UK etc.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Mar 15 2010, 01:09 AM

No problem

Not too familiar with Citibank Malaysia CitiGold service. Dad does have a CitiGold account overseas but he can't comment much as unlike HSBC Premier, the services offered aren't standardized.

For instance, being a Citibank USA CitiGold customer doesn't entitle you to much perks as it does in Citibank Singapore. Hence it is nothing to shout about if you're a Citibank USA CitiGold customer as there are too many of them. In USA, Citi Private Bank is the exclusive one that will get you many freebies. Many many years ago, one can be a Citi Private Bank customer as long as he/she has a liquid assets of US$3 Million deposited with Citibank but this has since changed. In order to qualify now, you need to have a minimum US$10 Million cash with Citibank USA.

Anyway, back to your main question. HSBC Premier customers do get special rates which they guaranteed will be lower than standard board rates. If you do the transfer at the branch, you will need to inform your relationship manager prior to doing so. But if you do the transfer yourself through online banking, you'll automatically be given the better rate.

For the latest foreign currency board exchange rates, you can check it out yourself through your online banking account on the left menu. The special HSBC Premier foreign currency exchange rates are not published but rest assured that the rate you'll get will be better than what quoted in your online banking account.


Another way of minimizing your loss in foreign currency exchange is to open a foreign currency account with HSBC Malaysia. HSBC Malaysia doesn't offer a single foreign currency account. What they do have is called "CombiNations Account". Basically it is what other banks call "foreign multi-currency deposits". It is an all-in-one account that offers you deposit service for several major currencies such as USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, AUD, SGD, HKD etc.

Let say you want to remit some money from HSBC Australia back to HSBC Malaysia, you can transfer the money from HSBC Australia back to your HSBC Malaysia "CombiNations Account". Put it there a while and only exchange it back to RM when AUD is expensive

Not too sure on this as i have never carried out such transaction myself yet.



As long as you qualify HSBC Premier Malaysia, you can open an account with HSBC Premier Australia for FREE !



HSBC Premier, Citibank CitiGold and Standard Chartered Priority Banking are the ultra-light version of private banking. And yes, just like private banking, you'll get a personal banker guarding your account. Any queries related to your account you can just ring up your personal banker.

If you are wealthy enough and can afford of keeping at least US$10 million of cash at all time in one bank, then you are qualified to be a private client for HSBC Private Bank or Citi Private Bank, just to name a few. Please be reminded that even in HSBC Private Bank or Citi Private Bank, they maintain a hierarchy system which clearly stated your status inside the private bank. For example, the most prestigious one in Citi Private Bank is named "Private Wealth and Management" for all Citi Private Bank customers with US$50 Million of cash and above deposited with them.


The problem with AUD is that when anything goes wrong with the global economy, investors will all be dumping AUD and buy more USD. That is the reason why USD was pretty expensive since late 2008 but it is on the downwards trend again as the global economy is recovering.

Having a foreign currency account is a must for those playing "dual-currency investment". The return of "dual-currency investment" is two to four times higher than time deposit. The only risk is the exchange rate which is why they will ask you to maintain a foreign currency account with them. You can do the currency conversion yourself when the rate favors you.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Mar 21 2010, 04:20 PM

Correct ! You'll even be given a HSBC Premier World Mastercard issued by HSBC Australia if you want one.



Yes. It is totally FREE to transfer money from your HSBC Premier Malaysia account to any other HSBC Group banks Premier accounts. However, the beneficiary must be you as well.


You should ask private bank ? What kind of private bank you are talking about ? Opening an account with a private bank usually takes a long time. It can be from a mere two weeks to as long as two months as they do a complete background check on you, how do you amass all your fortune etc.

Private bank really is only for the privileged few. It opens to a whole lot of investment opportunities that you and i have never even heard of. Early last year, several mega private banks offer their customers a weekly time deposit in Russian Rubles with a total return of more than 70% per annum. And you guys said AUD time deposit gives very high rate But of course, it is an investment opportunity that is not available to us.

By the way, you can't do forex trading in RM. Our BNM forbids that since 97 or 98.

Only if you choose to activate your online banking account, i suppose.



Indeed it is. Save you a good deal of TT money.



Indeed. Just RM1 Million of deposit will do. Account opening procedure is much less problematic and certainly do not take days, weeks or even months



For this one you might consider Citi Private Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC Private Bank, UBS, Credit Suisse etc. These banks can offer you investment insights that CIMB Private Banking can never offer you.



Not sure about this.


I am one whenever i go to sleep


This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Mar 21 2010, 06:08 PM

No. Foreign income is not taxable even if you're an eligible tax resident of Malaysia. Confirmed by my dad. He was a senior assistant director at LHDN Pusat Damansara. Left many years ago due to better prospective elsewhere. My dad's sister is still working there at LHDN Pusat Damansara, also as a senior assistant director.

You can refer to the scanned image below extracted from 2009/2010 Malaysian Tax and Business Booklet published by PricewaterhouseCoopers. It is stated that foreign generated income** is not taxable even when you remit it back to Malaysia.

A friend of mine who is working for a foreign company in the Middle-east doesn't pay a single cent to LHDN. He doesn't pay a single cent to the government in the country he is working in as the country too, is tax-free.



This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Mar 31 2010, 02:21 AM

How troublesome !!!



I am not sure if you can set up a SI for automatic currency conversion but ...


You can try HSBC. After all you're heading to UK. HSBC is the largest High Street Bank in UK.

And regarding the currency conversion issue. You can check the HSBC board rates in their online banking portal. You can send the request to convert your money from xxx currency into xxz currency from your online banking account. Pretty easy right ?

Yes. Something like that

It kind of is a good time to buy GBP and EUR now as it's cheap. Outlook for RM is good for the short-term but not so encouraging for the long-term.

Not really. One of the best things of becoming a mass affluent customer of a bank is to get many bank fees waived. There will always be this and that new investments from time to time and it is up to the individual whether or not he or she wants to invest in it. Some RM will not even call you because they know you are not interested in any investment products.

No minimum balance fee in our current account, free ATM card with unlimited withdrawal. Standard Chartered Priority Banking VISA debit card even offers free unlimited cash withdrawals via any House ATM network. Offshore banking services are provided free too without having to meet the minimum balance criteria just to name a few.


There are good apples and bad apples ... Depends on your luck i guess. As mentioned, Premier/Citigold/Priority Banking services are the ultra-light version of Private Banking. The main perks are to get some banks fees waived, no need to fill in your own forms, no need to take number etc.

Then that person is qualified for Citi Private Banking, JP Morgan Chase etc. He/she won't even look at this ultra-light private banking services. And these extremely wealthy people can be very stingy too. Just look at the complaints US Trusts received when a rumor started to circulate last year that they are going to charge their customers for using non-Bank of America ATM in the United States.

By the way, i believe many businessmen have millions of Ringgit in local banks current accounts and the minimum balance fee still apply.



Still, it's something that their customers can take advantage of. There will soon be more HSBC Amanah offsite ATM ...



Plenty ! Else why do you think many Malaysians have offshore bank accounts ? Malaysians make up a big number of Citi IPB London clients and in order not to pay any relationship fee, one will have to maintain a daily balance of at least US$100,000 in their Citi IPB London account.

US$100,000 might seems like a tiny number to some of you but not everyone have that kind of cash flow all the time. HSBC Premier can help those people seeking for offshore banking services and all relationship fees will be waived !



Still, one will want to save as much as possible. Just like the case with US Trusts extremely wealthy clients.



You have not been into the branch in a very long time i suppose ? Maybank, CIMB Bank and RHB Bank practically force you to fill up the forms first before allowing you to take a number. Public Bank suggests you to fill in the forms first before taking a number but then it's just a suggestion and they are not enforcing it. AmBank on the other hand, no longer requires its customers to fill in any forms since last year.

Other forms that you may not have to fill in yourself are the loan application forms, credit card application forms etc as your RM will help you.


Not everyone relies on automated banking machines only. Many still actually go into the branch to do whatever they need to do.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Apr 26 2010, 12:34 PM

Not everyone keeps that much money in their demand deposit accounts. So it does benefit some people.

HSBC Premier is sort of like a packaged account that will help you to waive some unnecessary banking fees. Packaged accounts are a hit in the United Stated.

Let say you bank with CIMB Bank and most of your money are in fixed deposit and you also have a Prime current account with them. In order to waive the monthly account fee, you'll need to keep RM5000 inside the account at all time. So, no matter how big your fixed deposit account is, you will still need to meet the minimum balance in order to get the monthly account fee waived. In a packaged account, you won't have to worry about the minimum balance fee in your current account as they will calculate your total relationship balance which include all your investments with that particular bank.

By the way, HSBC Premier also offers free remittance service and real-time crediting of the money transferred between your own account here in Malaysia and any other HSBC Premier accounts you hold overseas. Save you a lot of TT money and you'll also be able to access the fund quicker. You'll entitle for preferential exchange rates too.



It is widely known that it is easier to move money around in offshore banking centre. Many Malaysians have offshore banking accounts in Singapore, Hong Kong and London just because of this.
That is the main perk. It is also a known fact that it is easy to bring money into Malaysia but problem might arrises when one transfers a huge chuck of money out of the country. There are many more and all these informations can be found in google.



Not if your area doesn't have one AmBank branch ...



Yes but still, it is a service.



That's if you have some FD with them. But not all banks do this. By becoming their Premier/CitiGold/Priority customers, you'll be able to skip all the fuss of submitting your proof of income and all and a complimentary credit card will be send to you with no further questions asked.


That is the reality. Else why do you think many people describe Maybank and CIMB Bank as pasar malam and Public Bank as Kopitiam ? There is no doubt that in this IT age more and more people will rely more on automated banking machines but a physical branch is still essential, as proven in America.

Anyway, the bottom line is that everyone has different needs. Some might benefit from this sort of packaged account while some won't. Whether or not you can maximize the potential use of this kind of packaged account is entirely on how you bank, whether you travel a lot, do you live in multiple countries etc. If you don't think it is good enough for you then you do not have to join. The banks are not forcing all eligible customers to join either. It is just a smart marketing strategy to keep their existing customers happy and to lure more potential big accounts into their bank.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Apr 26 2010, 04:52 PM

If i'm not mistaken, it is US$100,000 or its equivalent Better check with your RM again.

No. I don't


Yeah ... i think there isn't one too. Not by BNM anyway. I believe the limit is imposed by HSBC itself and as far as i remember, the online limit is capped at US$100,000/day. Anything higher you will have do ask your RM to do it for you at the branch. If my memory serves me correctly, one can also request to increase the internet daily limit from US$100,000/day to US$1 Million.