Buying foreign stocks

I'm still pretty new to all this—just trying to dig through the internet to find some answers... if anyone here wouldn't mind helping a newcomer out.

I'm looking into investing on foreign stock exchanges, which means sending money over to an overseas brokerage account, say in the USA. I came across Charles Schwab, for instance.

My question is, are there any limits on transferring currency from the USA to my local account—or vice versa—if such things exist? And if they do, what kind of limits are we talking about? Has anyone here dealt with something similar??

Anyway, if you could help me out, thanks so much.

Look, when it comes to transferring funds for overseas investing, you shouldn't be hitting any major roadblocks, provided you have a solid contract in place with a brokerage firm... and as far as I can tell, there aren't really any hard caps on how much you can invest.

Limits on international transactions OF COURSE they exist! When you send a wire through your bank, you have to provide all the specifics: who’s getting the money, where they are, their account number, IBAN, and so on. I actually work at a bank, so I know exactly how this works.

feralstag16 said:Limits on international transactions OF COURSE they exist! When you send a wire through your bank, you have to provide all the specifics: who’s getting the money, where they are, their account number, IBAN, and so on. I actually work at a bank, so I know exactly how this works.

Look, let’s stop dancing around the issue and actually get specific about these restrictions. We need to talk real numbers and real constraints here, because circling the drain with vague generalities isn't getting us anywhere.

feralstag16 said:Limits on international transactions OF COURSE they exist! When you send a wire through your bank, you have to provide all the specifics: who’s getting the money, where they are, their account number, IBAN, and so on. I actually work at a bank, so I know exactly how this works.

Either this is coming straight for me, or... look, let’s just lay all the cards on the table and argue the damn thing out. 🙂

feralstag16 said:Limits on international transactions OF COURSE they exist! When you send a wire through your bank, you have to provide all the specifics: who’s getting the money, where they are, their account number, IBAN, and so on. I actually work at a bank, so I know exactly how this works.

Nobody’s disputing that there are restrictions on international business😕
That's why the Foreign Exchange Act exists in the first place.

feralstag16 said:Limits on international transactions OF COURSE they exist! When you send a wire through your bank, you have to provide all the specifics: who’s getting the money, where they are, their account number, IBAN, and so on. I actually work at a bank, so I know exactly how this works.

It would be helpful if you people were a little more specific with your claims.🤷

feralstag16 said:Limits on international transactions OF COURSE they exist! When you send a wire through your bank, you have to provide all the specifics: who’s getting the money, where they are, their account number, IBAN, and so on. I actually work at a bank, so I know exactly how this works.

So now I'm wondering—what are these limits exactly? Like, is it $5, $10, or maybe $100,000?
The law has definitely changed, though—I heard on another forum that things were totally deregulated starting January 1st, 2009, which supposedly means free movement of funds without anyone checking transfers, whether it's $1 or $1 million...

If you could help me out, I'd love to know what the current limits are—specifically the actual numbers, if you know them.
(My bank mentioned needing a pro forma invoice first, then getting approval from the Federal Reserve just so they can track where money is leaving the country)

Nice... ☕

http://www.cartmann.com/polog-novca-...ko-stajaliste/

Since you're handling the transfer to your broker based on a binding contract, there really shouldn't be any issue here.

From what I understand, you don't even need to bother getting approval from the Federal Reserve. The whole process falls under the permitted activities outlined in theForeign Exchange Act

I actually went ahead and dug through the legal text, so I'm just going to copy and paste some relevant sections here for you.
No current law—specifically regarding foreign exchange regulations—prohibits individuals from buying stocks directly. This means you don't have to go through domestic brokers or hunt down permissions, consents, or any other bureaucratic nonsense.

All you need to do is open an account with a broker (deleted), then head down to your bank and wire the funds straight to the broker's account (just fill out form 14 at any major bank like Chase or Bank of America). Keep in mind, while there isn't a hard limit on how much cash you can move, if you try to send more than $35, they're definitely going to start grilling you for extra documentation and details.🙂

...

Look, since you aren't opening a foreign currency account abroad—you're just sending money directly to a foreign broker via your local US bank—there's no need to ask the Federal Reserve for permission to open anything, nor do you need to report transactions for an account you don't technically "hold" in that way. What would you even report? It makes no sense. My advice? When you walk into the bank to wire the money, bring a copy of your brokerage agreement just to keep things smooth.

The only real exceptions are places like Mexico or North Mexico, where they actually force you to open a local account. In those cases, you'd need to get authorization from the Federal Reserve, but even then, it’s usually straightforward.

Source:
My own funds

Kimberly Nguyen said:Since you're handling the transfer to your broker based on a binding contract, there really shouldn't be any issue here.

From what I understand, you don't even need to bother getting approval from the Federal Reserve. The whole process falls under the permitted activities outlined in theForeign Exchange Act

I actually went ahead and dug through the legal text, so I'm just going to copy and paste some relevant sections here for you.
No current law—specifically regarding foreign exchange regulations—prohibits individuals from buying stocks directly. This means you don't have to go through domestic brokers or hunt down permissions, consents, or any other bureaucratic nonsense.

All you need to do is open an account with a broker (deleted), then head down to your bank and wire the funds straight to the broker's account (just fill out form 14 at any major bank like Chase or Bank of America). Keep in mind, while there isn't a hard limit on how much cash you can move, if you try to send more than $35, they're definitely going to start grilling you for extra documentation and details.🙂

...

Look, since you aren't opening a foreign currency account abroad—you're just sending money directly to a foreign broker via your local US bank—there's no need to ask the Federal Reserve for permission to open anything, nor do you need to report transactions for an account you don't technically "hold" in that way. What would you even report? It makes no sense. My advice? When you walk into the bank to wire the money, bring a copy of your brokerage agreement just to keep things smooth.

The only real exceptions are places like Mexico or North Mexico, where they actually force you to open a local account. In those cases, you'd need to get authorization from the Federal Reserve, but even then, it’s usually straightforward.

Source:
My own funds

Thanks—you were a huge help... 🙂

I’ve asked my bank twice—really made sure I was being clear—about whether there's a cap on how much I can send to a broker, and both times they told me it was limited to $3,000 unless I went through some special paperwork.

Then today, the same bank tells me there aren't actually any limits on those kinds of transfers... apparently someone just sent about $10,000 yesterday without an issue.

I honestly have nothing left to say, though unfortunately, this was entirely predictable...

Alright folks, I got an answer back from the Federal Reserve, so it's all pretty clear now:

Based on the Foreign Exchange Act (as published in the Federal Register), individual residents living in the USA can buy and sell foreign securities directly through a foreign firm or via an authorized domestic one.
Plus, the Foreign Exchange Act doesn't actually require you to open any specific custodial accounts.
If a resident individual transfers funds straight to a foreign broker's account, they can basically do that without any limit on the amount through their bank—and they don't need prior approval from the Federal Reserve. For the bank,
you just need to provide documentation that shows the basis for the transfer and proves the obligation to pay. Or, if you don't have that specific doc ready when you submit the order to send money abroad, you'll just need something showing your business relationship with that foreign broker.
Payments for buying foreign securities are handled according to the regulation on foreign payment services (found in the Federal Register) and the implementation guidelines for that
regulation on foreign payment services (also in the Federal Register); there aren't any limits on the transaction amounts, which applies to both individuals and corporations. Banks are required to follow standard
anti-money laundering laws during every transaction and will use the prescribed forms when processing payments.
Under the regulation regarding data collection for the balance of payments, foreign debt, and international investment status (Federal Register, issue
121/07, effective January 1, 2008), residents are required to report direct and other equity investments to the Federal Reserve. "Other equity investments" refers to any resident ownership abroad that isn't considered a direct equity
investment. Basically, this means you're supposed to notify the Federal Reserve even if you're just buying shares in a foreign company and ending up with less than a 10% voting stake.

The forms used for reporting these direct and other equity investments can be found on the Federal Reserve website www.hnb.hr/propisi /statistika/odluke, upute i obrasci/statistika platne bilance/inozemna izravna i portfeljna ulaganja, kreditni odnosi i depozitni poslovi s inozemstvom.

Q.E.D.

How much of a cut is Chase gonna take before they let a million dollars slide through?

It really just comes down to which bank you're dealing with—most of them have a cap on how much they'll actually reimburse you