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Same personally, haven't as yet, may do if limit is increased.
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Interactive Brokers
- Thread starter MrMarcus
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Same personally, haven't as yet, may do if limit is increased.
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I applied for margin for both a Family Trust with Corporate Trustee account and an Individual account at the same time. The former was approved with no hassle, but the latter required either an accountant signing off that I had a certain amount of assets ($2m+ I think) or getting that 3rd party organisation to check my assets (where the ask for my bank account passwords etc.). As nearly all my assets are in the FT and as I was not going to give my passwords to anyone, I didn't bother pursuing margin for the Individual account. So I have it for the FT but it still only allows $25K.
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I've googled it. It would be best to contact IB and ask.
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I have a Family Trust account with IB (Corporate Trustee). Every year or so IB requests that the details of the Trust's controlling interests be update to comply with some US (or international) regulation or other. I have just received such a request.
The problem is that it requests certain information pertaining to the Settlor that has not been requested before and will not allow one to proceed without providing the requested details. In addition to the Settlor name, it wants to know his permanent address, Date and Place of Birth, Country of Tax Residency and Tax File Number. I have no problem supplying such information for the Trustee (me as corporate director) and the Beneficiaries (my family members), but the Settlor is just the accountant that helped set up the Trust and provided the $10 settled sum, as is the norm.
I have asked the accountant if he is willing to provide such details, but the practice is closed for another week or so. Even if he complies, I do not see the logic of such a request. The section that must be filled in relates to all who have control over the trust and the Settlor has no control. In fact the deed precludes the Settlor from being a beneficiary of any kind. I have had a similar problem with IB before in relation to the Settlor, when they requested certified copies of the deeds and some other items which the accountant provided, only to be rejected by IB when they noticed that the accountant was also the Settlor. I had to get someone else from the practice to certify instead. But unlike certification, the Settlor of the trust is that one person and the name cannot be retrospectively changed. Additionally, what happens if he retires, moves to another tax residency etc. How can that mandatory information be provided in such circumstances. I think the issue relates somehow to the status of the Settlor, which is somewhat different to the US compared to here.
Has anyone had to deal with this issue?
The problem is that it requests certain information pertaining to the Settlor that has not been requested before and will not allow one to proceed without providing the requested details. In addition to the Settlor name, it wants to know his permanent address, Date and Place of Birth, Country of Tax Residency and Tax File Number. I have no problem supplying such information for the Trustee (me as corporate director) and the Beneficiaries (my family members), but the Settlor is just the accountant that helped set up the Trust and provided the $10 settled sum, as is the norm.
I have asked the accountant if he is willing to provide such details, but the practice is closed for another week or so. Even if he complies, I do not see the logic of such a request. The section that must be filled in relates to all who have control over the trust and the Settlor has no control. In fact the deed precludes the Settlor from being a beneficiary of any kind. I have had a similar problem with IB before in relation to the Settlor, when they requested certified copies of the deeds and some other items which the accountant provided, only to be rejected by IB when they noticed that the accountant was also the Settlor. I had to get someone else from the practice to certify instead. But unlike certification, the Settlor of the trust is that one person and the name cannot be retrospectively changed. Additionally, what happens if he retires, moves to another tax residency etc. How can that mandatory information be provided in such circumstances. I think the issue relates somehow to the status of the Settlor, which is somewhat different to the US compared to here.
Has anyone had to deal with this issue?
All the info on the settlor was provided when I submitted my trust deed. as you've stated, the settlor has no stake in the trust and they should not need that information about them. It seems well beyond what is needed. I'd be calling IB directly and asking a WTF to them.
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i also have an IB account under a discretionary trust with corporate trustee, and they have never asked me specifically for the settlor's details.
i don't remember the exact process i followed when setting up my IB account now (it was some 12 or so years ago) but i have a very vague recollection of the term "settlor" differing slightly between US trust law (which IB follows) and Aust trust law. i think i might've put down myself as the settlor, even though the official settlor was, like in your case, my accountants at the time.
it could be that in the US, the settlor is considered as the entity who founds the trust, but in Aust, the settlor is essentially a proxy who founds the trust, transfers control to the trustee, then has no further involvement in the trust (and is not allowed to, hence why in Aust we have to use our accountants or someone uninvolved with the trust as settlor). so by IB's US definition, the settlor would be you, not your accountant. probably best to ask them for clarification over the live chat help line on the IB portal.
i don't remember the exact process i followed when setting up my IB account now (it was some 12 or so years ago) but i have a very vague recollection of the term "settlor" differing slightly between US trust law (which IB follows) and Aust trust law. i think i might've put down myself as the settlor, even though the official settlor was, like in your case, my accountants at the time.
it could be that in the US, the settlor is considered as the entity who founds the trust, but in Aust, the settlor is essentially a proxy who founds the trust, transfers control to the trustee, then has no further involvement in the trust (and is not allowed to, hence why in Aust we have to use our accountants or someone uninvolved with the trust as settlor). so by IB's US definition, the settlor would be you, not your accountant. probably best to ask them for clarification over the live chat help line on the IB portal.
Hi does anyone know what the FX fees are for IBKR, ie what they generally charge for converting your AUS $$ when buying US shares? Im currently with Stake who charge .78% once off when you add or remove to and from your account. and IG markets who charge .7% for every stock buy and sell, just looking to see if its worth going through the mental hassle of opening a SMSF account with them 
cheers
cheers
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Hi does anyone know what the FX fees are for IBKR, ie what they generally charge for converting your AUS $$ when buying US shares? Im currently with Stake who charge .78% once off when you add or remove to and from your account. and IG markets who charge .7% for every stock buy and sell, just looking to see if its worth going through the mental hassle of opening a SMSF account with them
cheers
You get the spot rate (no spread unlike Stake, IG and most others). I have done lots of conversions and immediately upon execution have compared the rate I got to that shown by Yahoo in realtime. There has always been just a negligible difference and often the rate I got was better than what Yahoo was showing (most likely due to movements within the few seconds time lag between making the comparison).
They do charge a commission of 0.00002 for conversions up too USD1 billion, with a minimum fee of USD2.
So for a conversion equivalent to USD20,000 you get charged commission of USD2 (the minimum). For a conversion equivalent of USD200,000 your commission will be USD4. The commission is charged to your AUD account.
Their fx rates sets them apart from all the others (I don't know what Schwab charge). Any concern regarding their USD10 per month minimum monthly fee (rebatable against share trade commissions) is unwarranted, as you save so much on FX fees.
Their trading platform is excellent, but expect lots of hassles setting up your account as their admin side is slow and cumbersome, particularly for trusts and SMSFs. They tend to view things through a US perspective and often you will run into obstacles because we work differently here. See my recent posts above regarding trust settlor.
Thankyou, that was very helpful, also is there a way to have US dollars in the account so that if and when you are selling and Buying US shares its all done using the same currency? or is it a moot point given that IBKR only charges the spot price and no spread?
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You will have both a USD account and AUD account. It will keep the proceeds from US sales in your USD account without converting them to AUD. When you do your next US Shares buy, it will take from the USD balance.
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Just letting everyone who has a family trust know that this issue has now been resolved. It took a lot of effort at the start for me to show that their request was not in line with what all other brokers and financial institutions in Australia require. I couldn't find a definitive document that listed the exact requirements, but all others required no information on the settlor if the settlor had contributed less that $10k to the trust and just his name if more than $10k was contributed. They accepted that is the case, but then needed 4 or 5 weeks to get the program code changed to stop those questions being asked. I have been assured that the change has now been implemented and will test the next time I get a chance.
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has anyone else only been getting charged 17c a contract on ASX options recently? i've been getting that rate for both single leg and combo orders over the last few weeks or so.
it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere, the website still says 30c a contract, and i don't recall receiving any notifications advising of a promotional rate or some such. not that i'm complaining, just interested as to where it's coming from and how long it'll last for.
maybe it's some sort of compensation for the combo order debacle from late last year that the ASX was made to pay to brokers, and IB is nice enough to pass some of it on to us, the traders impacted by it?
it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere, the website still says 30c a contract, and i don't recall receiving any notifications advising of a promotional rate or some such. not that i'm complaining, just interested as to where it's coming from and how long it'll last for.
maybe it's some sort of compensation for the combo order debacle from late last year that the ASX was made to pay to brokers, and IB is nice enough to pass some of it on to us, the traders impacted by it?
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did IB just go down for anyone else?
it was working fine up until a few mins ago, then suddenly lost connectivity and won't connect back up.
one of the worst possible times it could go down, an hour and a bit before June expiry!
it was working fine up until a few mins ago, then suddenly lost connectivity and won't connect back up.
one of the worst possible times it could go down, an hour and a bit before June expiry!
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Yeah, down here too.
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Yep.
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System's back...
