Hi, we finally moved to Taipei last week from the US after a couple years of planning, on an Investment Visa. Problem is I can’t find a broker to invest with haha. My business bank account is at Chunghwa Bank but they don’t have any English speaking staff, at least at my branch (Zhongxiao Dunhua area). My wife speaks Chinese but doesn’t understand the investing/financial terms well enough to translate, so I need to find a broker with some foreign education and English ability. It can be at a actual bank or a Investment Firm, someone who has access to trade TW stocks and bonds. Has anyone found one in Taipei they can recommend? Thanks!
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Oh, and we asked a couple bank branches (Citi, Bank Sinopac) randomly about investing money (in Chinese) and they looked at us like we had 3 eyes. So bank branches may not be the right place. Also checked with the big US firms like JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. They have Taipei offices but only for very high net worth clients $5M US+, so way out of my league!
You will want to look at Hong Kong. If people working at banks are unwilling to speak english and help you, it actually means they are totally not interested in your business.
In this day and age what is the point to a physical broker? I am truly curious in that I have only ever done it online, and find it easy and convenient.
Sinopac Securities.
Use their App to trade online.
You need stock ideas?
Listening to local brokers (who can speak English) for that is not the way to go.
What stocks you want to buy?
You can even buy local ETFs that track all kinds of stocks or sub-sectors.
Curious, what is your investment reason to absolutely need an English speaker?
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Hi all, I can’t go online, I wish I could. I must use the money in my TWD business account to invest within Taiwan. I have to go through a local broker or bank. I don’t have to have a adviser per se, I have an idea of which TW stocks I’d like to buy, but I need a way to buy them. Does the Sinopac Securities online portal allow you to buy stocks, with the money in your checking account? I’d have to move my money from Chunghwa to Sinopac, but that should be doable. This sounds like a good option, especially since they have ETFs. I’d like to have an English speaking advisor to quality-check my stock selections for me. I can only view what data is online about the TW companies, but for example a local may tell me to stay far away from the stock because XYZ reasons I wouldn’t see online.
yes.
when you set up Sinopac Securities, you MUST set up Bank Sinopac account, that is where money gets taken out of when you buy shares and put into when you sell shares.
Bring your Chunghwa Post bank book.
The lady at Bank Sinopac can set it up on its online banking platform to send money to.
Then go to Chunghwa Post and do the same with your Bank Sinopac.
That way you can transfer money back and forth between the two on their online banking platforms (Apps and websites).
Any other questions just ask, I’ve done this for many years.
Edit: at Sinopac, they will assign you a broker.
Go with wife if possible. Get namecard.
Many of them use LINE to chat.
If you must use phone call to place order, ask if you can use LINE. If not, have wife place order.
Worst case, if their English is so-so. tell them your wife will call up first with order in Chinese, and then you call it in slow English to confirm.
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@Ctaitung: Thanks very much for the ideas. I will try this route. The main hurdle for me per my CPA is that it is difficult for foreigners to open a local Business Account. Some banks want minimum deposits of 10M NT! I have my account opened at Chunghwa already luckily, where the money came in from the US, which was even more difficult. I hope Sinopac will allow me to open a Business account now that the money is in TWD, so I can set up the transfer with Chunghwa.
I’m waiting to pick up my ARC next week before I can try any of this BTW.
bring your wife when opening account.
Explain you will turnover account a lot.
Turnover, as in add more money over time? Or make lots of stock trades?
Yuanta Securities has loads of English speakers serving foreign institutional investors. I know because I used to work there. I would hazard a guess some of the retail staff can speak English and even if they can’t there’s a translation team there who can for sure.
I have an English speaking broker but don’t know if she was educated outside Taiwan. She works at Fubon. I don’t know what the minimum AUM you need. If you’d like to discuss further, you can PM me.
Thanks.
make lots of dollar volume trade.
if you have wife there, you can have her explain whole situation to branch manager.
Sinopac is quite international.
Yuanta is largest by market share. I’m positive they have same set-up as Sinopac and are international, too, Vietnam, etc.
I’m glad to hear this part. lots of disclosure forms of you get creative with your investing. you’ll be fine if you stick to stocks and ETFs, but if you venture into partnerships, insurance, retirement accounts… you will need some serious guidance. US reporting requirements can plow through your earnings real fast in CPA/ legal fees
Also, I know of a broker in KGI Securities that speaks English too. If you’d like a referral, please PM. Cheers.
You said you moved from the US, so I assume you are American. US tax laws are incredibly strict and penalties are large for misreporting. Not only are you responsible for complying with these laws, but so are any financial institutions that do business with you. Because of this many foreign banks and investment firms do not want to offer services to Americans, other than the basic checking and savings accounts, unless you are bringing a lot of money to the table to make it worth their trouble.
Does Yuanta have the client open a new account directly with them, or would they “link” to my Chunghwa account electronically to fund my trading?
each securities branch has a bank, usually in-house or next door, that is linked to the stock branch’s accounts