About Third-Party Deposits at Interactive Brokers Hong Kong (IBHK)

What are Third-Party Deposits?

Third-party deposits originate from or are drawn upon an account at a financial institution titled in a name other than that of the receiving IBHK account holder(s).
 

Does IBHK accept Third-Party Deposits?

IBHK does not generally accept third-party deposits, as those are highly susceptible to acts of fraud and money laundering.
 

Does IBHK Ever Make an Exception and Accept a Third-Party Deposit?

Per regulatory guidance, IBHK only accepts third-party deposits in very rare situations. Exceptions are made only after carefully considering the reason(s) for the third-party deposit and a thorough review of the required documents to support the third-party deposit. The most frequent exceptions arise from situations such as:

  • A deposit from a joint account where the IBHK client is one of the joint account holders.
  • A deposit from a spouse or other direct family members.


What Information is Required by IBHK to Approve a Third-Party Deposit?

At a minimum, the client must provide the following:

  • Identity proof of the third party
  • Relationship proof with the third party
  • An explanation for making the third-party deposit

Additional information, including an explanation of the source of funds and background financial information, may be requested by Compliance during the deposit review.
 

Note

IBHK reserves the right to reject any third-party deposit. You are strongly discouraged from making third-party deposits to minimize any inconvenience and prevent delays in processing your deposit into your IBHK account.

According to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, fund transfers to or from a bank account jointly owned by a client are third-party payments.

Overview of Dodd-Frank

Background
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as Dodd-Frank, is a U.S. law enacted in July of 2010, the purpose of which is to prevent the recurrence of events which lead to the 2008 financial crisis. Its principal goals are to:

- Promote U.S. financial stability by improving accountability and transparency within the financial system;
- Protect taxpayers from future bailouts of institutions deemed “too big to fail”; and
- Protect consumers from financial services practices considered abusive.

For additional information, please review the following sections:
- Dodd-Frank reforms
- Dodd-Frank and your IB Account

 

 

 

 

 

Dodd-Frank Reforms
To accomplish its goals, Dodd-Frank proposed the following reforms:

- Enhanced oversight and supervision of financial institutions through the creation of Financial Stability Oversight Council
- Creation of a new agency responsible for implementing and enforcing compliance with consumer financial laws (Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection)
- Implementation of more stringent regulatory capital requirements
- Changes in the regulation of over the counter derivatives including restrictions upon access to Federal credit by swaps entities, establishment of regulatory oversight and mandatory trading and clearing requirements
- Enhanced regulation of credit rating agencies intended to eliminate exemptions from liability, enhance rating agency disclosure, establish prohibited activities and impose standards for independent Board governance
- Changes to corporate governance and executive compensation practices
- Incorporation of the Volcker Rule which imposes restrictions upon the speculative proprietary trading activities of banking entities
- Mandating studies intended to reform investor protection rules
- Changes to the securitization market including requirements that mortgage bankers retain a % of risky loans.

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Dodd-Frank and Your IB Account
Perhaps most visible to IB account holders of all the Dodd-Frank regulations are those relating to money transfers. Here, Section 1073 of the Act introduces consumer protections designed to increase transparency with respect to the costs, timing and the right to repudiate cross-border transactions.
For purpose of Section 1073, a cross-border transaction is defined as an electronic transfer of money from a consumer in the United States to a person or business in a foreign country. As IB LLC is a U.S. based broker, all its account holders regardless of whether they are domiciled in the U.S. or not, benefit from this protection and it covers withdrawals denominated in a currency other than the U.S. dollar as well as USD denominated withdrawals sent to a non-U.S. bank. Account holders submitting a withdrawal which is covered by this regulation will be provided with a disclosure after confirming the request within Account Management. This disclosure will include the following information:

- The name and address of the sender and recipient
- The amount to be deducted from the sender’s IB account
- The amount projected to be credited to the recipient’s bank account including an estimate of fees which the receiving bank's correspondent bank(s) may charge. Note that these correspondent bank fees are not set by nor is any part of them earned by IB.
- A disclaimer that additional fees and foreign taxes may apply.
- Notice of the sender’s right to cancel the transfer request for a full refund within 30 minutes of it being authorized.
- Regulatory contact information in the event of questions or complaints.

When estimating correspondent bank transfer fees, IB takes into consideration information collected from past customer transactions in addition to data made available by our agent banks. We encourage our customers to review and consider this information when making decisions regarding cross-border transactions.

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ACATS Transfer Guide (US brokerage account transfers)

ACATS Transfer Guide

Introduction

ACATS Transfer Benefits

Navigating The Process

Incoming Or Outgoing

Initiating Your Transfer

What To Expect

Who To Contact For Help

 

Introduction

Understanding the basic facts about transferring accounts between US brokerage firms can be help to avoid delays.  Through this article and other Knowledge Database resources, Interactive Brokers seeks to assist with your incoming and outgoing ACATS requests.

US brokerage firms utilize a standardized system to transfer customer accounts from one firm to another.  Known as the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service or ACATS, the process allows assets to move seamlessly between  brokerage firms in a unified time frame.   ACATS transfers are facilitated by a third party, the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), to assist participating members with timely asset transfers.

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ACATS Transfer Benefits

The majority of assets may be transferred between US brokerage firms and some banks through ACATS.  This standardized system includes stocks, US corporate bonds, listed options, unit investment trusts, mutual funds, and cash.  Information on assets eligible for transfer is provided at "Assets Eligible..."  Though impacted by multiple factors and time constraints, the accepted or rejected transfers finalize within 10 business days in most cases.

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Navigating The Process

4 simple steps of the ACATS process will help you understand the flow and minimize delays.  Familiarizing yourself with the transfer process helps to ensure a successful transition.

1.  Incoming or Outgoing

2.  Initiating Your Transfer

3.  What to Expect

4.  Who to Contact For Help 

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 1. Incoming or Outgoing

 

Incoming ACATS Transfers

The financial institution that is receiving your assets and account transfer is known as the "receiving firm."  Investors always work with and through the "receiving firm" to move full or partial account assets into a new broker. 

Contact the "receiving firm" (Interactive Brokers) to review the firm's trading policies and requirements.  You should verify that your assets are eligible for trading at the "receiving firm" before initiating the transfer request.   Not all ACATS transferable assets are acceptable for trading at every brokerage firm.

Outgoing ACATS Transfers

All outgoing ACATS transfers, full or partial, must be approved by the "delivering firm."  Investors, however, should work with and through the "receiving firm" in order to begin the the transfer process or to status the progress of the request.      

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2. Initiating Your Transfer

Investors must always begin the ACATS transfer with the "receiving firm."  An ACATS transfer form or Transfer Initiation Form (TIF) must be submitted.  The "receiving firm" takes your reqeust and communicates with the "delivering firm" via ACATS.  The process begins with this request for transfer of the account. 

For your Interactive Brokers Account, the transfer is usually submitted online.  Video instruction on submitting the transfer is provided at "How to deposit funds via a full ACATS/ATON Transfer."  or through Step-by-step instructions.

Note: Outgoing account transfers from your IB account should be directed to the other broker.  Your request will be submitted to IB from the other broker through the ACATS electronically.

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3. What to Expect

Your Account

Brokers ensure the safety and security of transfer requests by only authorizing requests between open accounts that meet the following criteria:

  • Same Account Title
  • Same Tax ID Number
  • Same Account Type

Transfer Approval

Ultimately responsible for validating the transfer,  the "delivering firm" may accept  information from the "receiving firm" correcting data originally entered.  Approved or validated requests result in the delivery of positions to the "receiving firm" for their acceptance.   Assets may not be accepted by the "receiving firm" for the following:

  • Non-marginable or Margin (credit) violation
  • Not Tradable
  • DTC Chill

Note: The most common reasons for ACATS rejections are outlined by clicking here.

Processing Time-frame

The processing time for each transfer request is fixed.  In general, approved transfers complete within 4 to 8 business days.  Almost all transfers complete within 10 business days.  Each firm is required to perform certain steps at specific intervals in the process.  Feel free to review the Full ACATS transfer process flow.

 

Fees

While Interactive Brokers does not charge a fee to transfer your account via ACATS, some brokers do apply a fee for full and partial transfers. Prior to initiating your transfer, you should contact the "delivering firm" to verify any charge.

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4.  Who To Contact For Help

Interactive Brokers Customer Service stands poised to assist with your incoming ACATS transfer reqeust.  Click here for Customer Service contact resources.

Note:  Outgoing or ACATS transfers sending accounts to another broker should be directed to the "receiving firm."  Their Account Transfer Group will work with Interactive Brokers directly to complete your outgoing request.

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How to Deposit Funds Via a Check

How to deposit funds to your Interactive Brokers account via a Check

How can I check the status of funding transactions?

Overview: 

IBKR provides account holders with a tool that provides real-time updates and current status of all deposit and withdrawal transactions relating to both cash and positions which have taken place over the prior 45 calendar day period. This tool is made available through the secure Account Management application and may be accessed via the Transfer & Pay and then Transaction History menu options.

Display

By default, the Transaction History page shows all of your funding transactions for the past ten days. You can adjust that up to the past 90 days by adjusting the time slider. Click and drag the slider right or left to change the time. The page updates to display all of your funding transactions for the selected period.

By default, transactions are displayed by date in descending order. Change the sort order by clicking any column heading. To change the sort order from descending to ascending, click the column heading again. For example, if you want to view all deposits listed together, click the Type column heading.

Click the Configure (gear) icon to configure the transaction history to display additional information, including Account ID, Account Title and Method.

To view transaction details, click anywhere on a transaction row. Details for the transaction appear in a popup window. From the transaction detail popup window, you can perform any of the following operations:

  • Cancel any transaction that has a status of Pending by clicking Cancel. Click Yes to confirm the cancellation.
  • Print the transaction details by clicking Print.
  • Stop payment on a check withdrawal.
  • Close the popup window by clicking the X icon in the upper corner.
    • Note: DO NOT CLICK THE CANCEL BUTTON UNLESS YOU WANT TO CANCEL THE TRANSACTION.

Search and Filter

Search for a specific transaction by Account ID, Account Title, Transaction Type (deposit, withdrawal, etc.), Transaction Method (check, wire, etc.), or Status by typing the search criteria in the Search field, and then clicking the Search (magnifying glass) icon. Search words are not case-sensitive.

Filter the transaction history by Transaction Type, Method or Status.

Print and Export

To print the transaction history as currently displayed, click the Print icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.

To export your transaction history to an XLS file (Microsoft Excel-compatible), click the Export icon located in the upper right corner of the page. You are prompted to save or download the .XLS page to your computer (depending on your web browser). Once saved, you can open that file in Microsoft Excel.

 

What does the 'Pending Advisor' status mean next to my withdrawal request?

Overview: 

In the Transaction History section of Client Portal, client accounts who are logged in and have requested a withdrawal, may see the status as 'Pending Advisor'.

Information:

In the advisor structure, client accounts can request withdrawals by logging in to Client Portal just as any individual account would.  Once a withdrawal request is made by a client account, the advisor must consent to the request.  If the Advisor does not consent to the request, the withdrawal will still be processed, but there will up to be a three business day delay.

Advisor Steps to Confirm:

Once a withdrawal request has been submitted by a client account, the advisor will receive an email notification, stating that a client has requested a withdrawal.  In order to consent, the advisor must log in to Advisor Portal and navigate to Manage Clients then Dashboard and the Pending Items tab.  The advisor would then click the 'Consent' button in order to expedite the processing of the pending withdrawal.

Note about hold periods:

In order to ensure the timely processing of client initiated withdrawal requests, the hold period for withdrawals where the amount of the request is greater than 80% of the amount available for withdrawal, will be held until consented to by the advisor or 3 calendar days, whichever comes first.  For amounts representing less than 80% will be held until consented to by the advisor or the next business day.

These holds are in place to ensure that your advisor is aware of your withdrawal request and is afforded time to make funds available if necessary.

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