Canadian brahs, is HSBC the best for Business banking?

Paper_Chase

Paper_Chase

brb gym
Apr 23, 2009
1,499
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Vancouver, Canada
Finally made the leap to the "Advertiser" side of things. I'm currently with CIBC, but I need to step up my banking platform.

I find myself having to send international wire transfers frequently. I have a personal HSBC Premier account and have sent wires from the online banking interface. It is really quite smooth and easy to use.

Any other banks in Canada let you send wire transfers online?
 


If you're traveling or setting up offshore businesses (as a non-American), HSBC can be boss.

However, as far as Premier, why on earth would you keep $100k+ in a bank account with close to zero interest?
 
I've used HSBC and it's great, send wires anywhere online. Their fees are a bit higher than other banks but whatever not a big deal due to convenience. They are also non-resident friendly.
 
Not sure where you are sending money but CIBC has been terrible for me. What I use is

Local credit unions for local
Bank Of America for USA and frequent paypals
Belize Bank for security and privacy

You can no longer set up Canadian Corp accounts at Bank Of America, but personal is fine
 
Kelowna said:
Not sure where you are sending money but CIBC has been terrible for me. What I use is

Local credit unions for local
Bank Of America for USA and frequent paypals
Belize Bank for security and privacy

You can no longer set up Canadian Corp accounts at Bank Of America, but personal is fine
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I'm wiring money to affiliates in Canada, USA, UK and wiring suppliers in Japan.

Are there any other banks in the USA that let you set up an account for a Canadian corp? I've had a few occasions where it could have really saved me time to have an account at a US bank for my corp.

Also for the peep who mentioned TD, can you send the wire in different currencies? What's nice about HSBC is I can send it online in USD, CAD, GBP, JPY, and a few others. They handle the conversion and shit.
 
Amoxicillin said:
However, as far as Premier, why on earth would you keep $100k+ in a bank account with close to zero interest?
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Agreed. It really makes no sense.

I sure as shit don't have 100k laying around. My Dad was originally joint on the account and we had a large sum in it for a few weeks. I took him off the account, and now it sits basically empty. I'm waiting for them to phone me or something to cancel it, but I guess they don't care.
 
Paper_Chase said:
I'm wiring money to affiliates in Canada, USA, UK and wiring suppliers in Japan.
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For Canada and US, I can recommend direct deposit services with RBC. I was setup with that before, and it's beautiful. Fucked up file format and somewhat a pain to integrate with, but once it's all in place, it's awesome. No more check or wire bullshit -- just upload a text file to their server when needed, batch gets processed around 6pm EST everyday, and money is sitting in their account morning of the next business day.

Get bank account info from your affiliates, and direct deposit into their accounts. It wasn't much, and maybe $800 to get setup with both, Canada & US. Then I can't remember, but the fees are ridiculously low. Something like $0.10/transaction, regardless of amount.
 
Call up TD and ask them about US accounts. They offered a US account to me at a personal level with one of their partner banks in the USA. So maybe they will do the same thing for a Corp.

Also another thing to consider is what kind of intermediary your bank will use. I've never had more than one intermediary with HSBC, not sure what that is like with other companies. Basically it could really fuck with your wire $$$ as I've seen people get hit with 2 or 3 intermediaries each hitting you for $20 - $50 a piece.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
For Canada and US, I can recommend direct deposit services with RBC. I was setup with that before, and it's beautiful. Fucked up a file format and somewhat a pain to integrate with, but once it's all in place, and it's awesome. No more check or wire bullshit -- just upload a text file to their server when ended, batch gets processed around 6pm EST everyday, and money is sitting in their account morning of the next business day.

Get bank account info from your affiliates, and direct deposit into their accounts. It's not much, and maybe $600 to get setup with both, Canada & US. Then I can't remember, but the fees are ridiculously low. Something like $0.10/transaction, regardless of amount.
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Damn, that sounds pretty good. I believe HSBC has something similar.
 
nickCR said:
Also another thing to consider is what kind of intermediary your bank will use. I've never had more than one intermediary with HSBC, not sure what that is like with other companies. Basically it could really fuck with your wire $$$ as I've seen people get hit with 2 or 3 intermediaries each hitting you for $20 - $50 a piece.
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True bro. I will have to look into it.

I have someone who wants to pay me via ACH but they can't do it to a non-US bank. Isn't it possible to give them the details for CIBC's intermediary in the states? Then I guess the intermediary would deposit in my account?
 
Paper_Chase said:
True bro. I will have to look into it.

I have someone who wants to pay me via ACH but they can't do it to a non-US bank. Isn't it possible to give them the details for CIBC's intermediary in the states? Then I guess the intermediary would deposit in my account?
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No that doesn't work. You need the account, branch, routing, etc.. Most intermediaries are big banks that are used by tons of banks. I don't even enter that information HSBC just routes it through them. I imagine it's to log the money transfer in some US server system.
 
Paper_Chase said:
Agreed. It really makes no sense.

I sure as shit don't have 100k laying around. My Dad was originally joint on the account and we had a large sum in it for a few weeks. I took him off the account, and now it sits basically empty. I'm waiting for them to phone me or something to cancel it, but I guess they don't care.
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At some point they will decide to charge fees. Premier fees are pretty fucking high.
 
Paper_Chase said:
I'm wiring money to affiliates in Canada, USA, UK and wiring suppliers in Japan.

Are there any other banks in the USA that let you set up an account for a Canadian corp? I've had a few occasions where it could have really saved me time to have an account at a US bank for my corp.

Also for the peep who mentioned TD, can you send the wire in different currencies? What's nice about HSBC is I can send it online in USD, CAD, GBP, JPY, and a few others. They handle the conversion and shit.
Click to expand...
Yeah, TD will let you wire in multiple currencies. TD also owns banks in the US, so you can get setup with a USD account in a USD bank (makes it easy to receive ACH payments). It's a bit of a pain in the ass to get a US based account, but you can still get one.
 
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