[BettyInToronto]

We went to a local HSBC branh here on Friday and found out that if we open a Preferred Account here in Canada then we are a Preferred Customer anywhere in the world. We already knew that from the great information gathered here. What I didn't know is that moving money bank and forth between the two accounts/countries is free via internat banking. That was good to hear because we will be moving Canada Pension money deoisted to our Canadian bank account to HK as required.

My question is this. Does anyone know the critiera in HK for being a Preferred Customer? Canada is $150K-$300K (monthly fee $28); $300K-$500K (monthly fee is $16) and over $500K its all free. We believe the guy at the bank told us HK starts at $100K HK. Hubby is thinking that that is less and we should wait and open our first account in Hong Kong.

This guy doesn't want us to do that. He wants us to open everything with him and then he will take care of opening the HK account for us (which includes getting checks, bank and credit cards). My only concern is that then he is our primary Relationship Manager when that's okay just before we go, but once in Hong Kong we want that Relationship Manager to be here as this is where we will live. MAybe we can transfer this?

Any help is muchly appreciate (as always).

[BettyInToronto]

How can I correct a typo in the Title line once submitted? I can edit the body of the message but not the title.

[BettyInToronto]

Maybe I should just go to bed since I can't get this right tonight. Is there a spell check for this forum?

[PDLM]

In Hong Kong your total relationship balance for HSBC Premier (which is what I think you are referring to) is HK$1M. You can subsequently let it fall to the HK$500K-1M range in return for a monthly fee. Below HK$500K and you're bounced out to Powervantage or somesuch.

As a Premier in one country you automatically can have Premier in any other country without meeting the minimum requirements there, and you also do get a named relationship manager in each country. My experience (primary in HK, secondary in Jersey) is that it is easiest to deal with each individual relationship manager separately (they are responsive by email as well as by phone), although they do seem to communicate between themselves quite well.

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by BettyInToronto

Is there a spell check for this forum?

No, but if you use Firefox as your browser you can easily install spell-checking add-ins for a large number of different languages.

[krypton]

Originally Posted by PDLM

No, but if you use Firefox as your browser you can easily install spell-checking add-ins for a large number of different languages.

And for English you don't need to install anything, its built in.

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by krypton

And for English you don't need to install anything, its built in.

Not sure about American, but British, Canadian and Australian English are add-ons.

[hktraveller]

Originally Posted by PDLM

In Hong Kong your total relationship balance for HSBC Premier (which is what I think you are referring to) is HK$1M. You can subsequently let it fall to the HK$500K-1M range in return for a monthly fee. Below HK$500K and you're bounced out to Powervantage or somesuch.

As a Premier in one country you automatically can have Premier in any other country without meeting the minimum requirements there, and you also do get a named relationship manager in each country. My experience (primary in HK, secondary in Jersey) is that it is easiest to deal with each individual relationship manager separately (they are responsive by email as well as by phone), although they do seem to communicate between themselves quite well.

The lowest requirement to be a premier customer that I have seen so far is in China.
They require 50000 USD (or equivalent in any currency they offer). If you drop below they charge you 100 RMB per month. (I was below for a couple of months and they tried to work on me to close the account which I refused successfully. They even told me that I couldn't transfer money from China to HK for free as long as I was below balance, which proved not true.).

In HK the charge if you drop below 500000 HKD is 300 HKD per month (That was about 2 years ago, at that time the requirement was only 500000, but there were rumours that they would increase it).

Be aware that there are countries like Thailand and Macau where fees to international transfers apply.

In Macau incoming transfers are free, outgoing ones are charged (Because they don't have premier accounts there, but they do have a premier Centre for HK account holders).

[Inattendu]

Originally Posted by hktraveller

In Macau incoming transfers are free, outgoing ones are charged (Because they don't have premier accounts there, but they do have a premier Centre for HK account holders).

Not sure which bank you are refering to in Macau but HSBC, BNU and BOC all have premier account with similare benefits.

As a matter of fact, even if there is still a large number of HSBC ATM machine, there is only 3 branches left and they are all Premier branch, with the largest one being located at the corner of the Landmark.

[KnowItAll]

If you really do want a proper answer, there are a couple of expat relationship managers at HSBC International who we (GeoExpat) work with and they'll be happy to help you out.

Personally, I'd open the account and the relationship in HK -- your Canadian guy is not going to be of much use to you when you need something done in HK, regardless of what they claim.