IB and another a/c

IB has asked me to open another a/c if I want to trade non us products. IB advertises that you can trade all exchanges and all products from one universal a/c.
This is really not practical as I have to split my capital . I have to monitor two separate portfolios. And I cant have both a/cs as portfolio margin a/c .
Why this change has come. Any information? Thanks

 

Have you called them for an explanation?

 

PM might be the issue. Foreign securities don't get PM. And you're looking to buy them in foreign currencies and hold them that way. You can't do that in a PM account. You will need another account at any broker.

 

I have traded non us products for last several years. There was no problem IB would advance me the related currency .

I have sent a message to them to explain .

 

I'm not a US citizen but have a IB PM account where I can trade both US and non US products. OP's issue does sound strange.

 

Other than opening the account where some non-us products will be held, it should be seamless to you in terms of of capital allocation. You do not need to monitor two separate portfolios.

 

Thanks.
You say some non us products. So can some be traded in original a/c?Will there be a list some can be traded and some cant be traded. Please clarify. Thanks

 

Is that a new rule ? Will all IB clients face the same issue ?

 

well i am in uk and that is what ib has informed me

 

Actually I do have 2 account, IBUK is used for Cfds and IB llc for all or most other products AFAIK. If you are looking for a similar set up (but reading your OP it seems a bit different), it's pretty easy to use and the portfolio is consolidated under a single window. You'd need to monitor where the funds are beeing held precisely though, as you could be charged margin on the A subaccount when available funds are sitting idle in the B subaccount, you could also see GBP on your account window and want to buy USD with it for instance, but end up keeping the original GBP in 1 subbaccount and borrow the same amount of GBP in the other subaccount, than be charged for borrowing it. A little confusing at first.