What are the best foreigner friendly banks in Taiwan?

Never tested but I believe it’s available immediately.

I happened to do a little bit of rate shopping recently and HSBC provided the best rates (TWD/USD)

When transferring in, it would usually be because I needed money locally so converted to TWD immediately. Not a currency trader so I’m really not trying to “time the market”

Interesting ,I have a HK HSBC account, previously I heard they weren’t well integrated across countries,it may depend on level of funds deposited. That would be handy for me.

When moving money into Taiwan they will still ask about funds usage I guess.

Global transfer is seamless… only get asked about fund usage when you do an international wire transfer.

There is some hassle in terms of linking your global accounts though… did it a long time ago so forgot how it worked. Asking the local TW HSBC staff is utterly useless though, they will have no clue about what you are talking about. My HK account is linked to TW and US but my TW account is NOT linked to US, so I basically transfer twice to move money between US and TW

That’s strange. I asked the post office about this and they gave me all their international wire details. SWIFT code, intermediary bank … etc. I’ve also sent an international wire transfer (SWIFT) to a friend’s post office account.

So you mean you can move month easily from HK to Taiwan, but what about from Taiwan HSBC to HK HSBC account, do you do that ?

Sorry, I don’t quite understand your question

HSBC global transfer works between all your HSBC accounts, the “direction” of the transfer does not matter. Change your TWD online at HSBC Taiwan to USD (instant), transfer them to HK (instant) and do a local USD transfer (HK banking system supports local USD transfer) to the HK bank account of your US broker (almost instant) where you trade US stocks for 1 USD or for free (instead of paying USD 25 with a Taiwanese broker).

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Thanks both for your answer, it’s exactly what I want to do. I plan to open the US stock trading function in my HK account. I want to move money bidirectionally with the least friction and cost possible.

I know that Taiwan government likes to check what is source of the funds being transferred into Taiwan sometimes, you don’t get any phone calls to verify ?

So I guess I will call HSBC HK and see if they support the global transfer, but first I need to open an account j. Taiwan .

That seemed odd to me too. I had a similar situation last week when one of the staff members at Taipei Medical University Hospital saw the address on my ARC and asked me a bit rudely why I was going there instead of to a doctor closer to my home (TMUH is 15-17 min away from my home in a taxi, or less than 5 km, like most of the hospitals I’ve been to are). :roll_eyes:

(The answer is that they have appointments on evenings and Saturdays, and that I was already there waiting to see a different doctor for something else so had time to kill, but it didn’t seem like something I needed to justify to her. :thinking:)

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Not sure if I would recommend this… can you open a US brokerage account? IB can be done very smoothly though there are minimum monthly fees (ie. need to spend a min amount on trading)

Fidelity I think should also be ok… or just use one of the multiple free trade platforms that take international customers. Merrill is a no go (US only)

No idea what HSBC HK charges for US stock trades, only use them for HK stocks. But they’ve got some really pesky “stock maintenance fees” or not sure exactly what they call them, just that you buy certain types of HK stocks and they charge you a nominal amount every QTR or whatever just to hold onto the stock for you. Reminds me that I should liquidate all those stocks

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A bank close to your home, or a bank close to your workplace? I’ve had issues over the years where some of the paperwork could only be done at the “original” branch where my account was opened. I haven’t had to deal with that in quite a few years now, but I haven’t changed jobs in a long while either.

Many supermarkets only take cards from specific (local) banks. EG QuanLian/PXmart I believe only takes Cathay Bank cards, and other supermarkets have similar restrictions/“deals” with other banks. Costco only takes Cathay Visas as well. Big department stores like Sogo or Mitsukoshi are usually OK with HSBC Visa debit, but they generally take international cards and Amex too.

Linking to EasyCard means that your EasyCard can automatically top-up from your bank account debit card when it falls below a certain level. You don’t need this as you can always top up manually with cash, but it’s handy of you use Easycard a lot. Most of the local banks have credit and debit cards available with integrated Easycard functions.

You do need a local bank for direct debits. However, it is easy to pay bills here by taking them to any convenience store and paying cash over the counter. But this is inconvenient if you’re frequently away from Taiwan for periods (not really a problem at the moment :sweat_smile:)

Only having HSBC is certainly manageable, so no harm to get one setup first if that is easiest for you. And their Global Transfer feature works well if you’ve got HSBC accounts elsewhere.

I currently have E.Sunn and my most recent one is Bank of Taiwan. E.Sunn has been great and wonderful since I opened. They are very quick and friendly at my local branch, some of the staff does speak English. Their App and website are in English. Though the website is like half Chinese still.

Bank of Taiwan I kind of hate. Had a bad experience at the branch close to my house, very rude and they don’t speak much English. The branch near my work though is amazing very professional and they speak excellent English. They love lots of paperwork though and make you sign your name as last, first, middle, which is different than my normal way. I tried to change my atm card to a debt card, a process that took 5 minutes at E.Sunn and it took 30 minutes at Bank of Taiwan. I had to fill out an application and I have to wait about 4 days then go in and pick it up. They also have an English app and website.

The good news is Bank of Taiwan offered me a credit card while I was there today. This has never happened to me before as most people don’t want to offer foreigners anything. I told them I would think about it.

I wonder if this is a new change, in the past few years. Good to know for future transfers, thanks.

I’ve had some banks say close to your home and others say home or workplace is ok but they want proof of your workplace address and it to match your ARC.

If they are offering it I’d take it fast. I’ve been in Taiwan for years and BOT yearly refuses me a card. They have a new excuse every year. First was ARC length, then it was a 1 month reduction in income due to travel, then they didn’t like the employer, there was always some excuse. It was annoying as the branch took an hour getting me to fill this form and that and a week later if was sent back to them and shredded.

. So you should grab it even if you don’t need it if they are willing to approve you in case you want to rent a car or buy tickets in the future or something

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First bank refused to give me their new credit card with much better cashback yesterday…

Reason - not available to foreigners.

Never mind that

A) the counter lady asked me if I want to apply!
B) I have had a first bank credit card for years and it’s my salary bank with substantial savings

Half way through the process somebody in management seems to have told her it’s not available to foreigners.
When I asked why…She couldn’t explain.

I won’t let this one lie !

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Yes bullshit. Rules are black and white ( on paper!) show the rule or its not a rule.
Where i come from banks have a policy and they will gladly give you a copy to prove it, not in tw

Frustrating

Go to the news push issue !

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I complained but didn’t want to make another scene again at the bank. I asked where is the transparent policy . No response. The bank was closing and I had shit to do.

The worst was the bank teller telling me I will probably have an ID soon so it will be okay !?!

which card is it? I might go ask to see what they tell me.