Very simple, ib hk is a hk broker firm now and only the hk stuff is protected with very limited $. For hk stock only 150k hkd stock is protected. Your US stocks or whatever non hk stuff have zero protection.
Your fears go well beyond money and if you are that worried, moving out of Hong Kong may be your only solution. GloriaBrown - that is exactly why when choosing a HK broker or bank you should consider one with very strong financial controls and deep pockets.
It is possible that US gov believes a broker film has a good risk disappears so it forces the firm to do something like this for all non US offices so that if it breaks the US gov does need to protect the invested money any of these foreign people. This is only my guessing and you can think about it.
Not sure if I missed out anything. I read through this thread and I still cannot get a definitive answer as to whether U.S stocks bought under IB HK enjoy SIPC protection. This matters a lot to clients. If anyone knows, please let us know.
No wonder many HK customers are unhappy. It certainly make their IB account less safe. Not unsafe, but definitely less safe. I presume that "less safe" worry apply for IB UK, IB Australia too.
I'd add to Grulstmrnn's comment - with your definitive "unhappy" statement. The reality the IB Group would have to burn through $7 Billion USD of capital before SIPC and would even become a factor. The IBHK entity has significant capital, large excess liquid capital and maintains the same cautious risk management approach as we do for all of our entities. As far as SIPC, orders and custody for US stocks go through the IBLLC omnibus account. That account would be protected by SIPC but we also cannot know in the extremely unlikely event of there ever being a need to rely on SIPC, if they would treat the account as one account or many individual accounts. I'd like to believe the latter but that is something we hope to never find out. While it may not mean much to you, it could offer some comfort that staff and management own the vast majority of IBKR. Our skin is very much in the game and to quote our website "Unlike other firms, where management owns a small share, we participate substantially in the downside just as much as in the upside which makes us run our business conservatively." One final comment - for those with credit cash balances over $250,000 we do offer the ability to move up to $2,500,000 into FDIC insured Bank Deposit Sweeps. So helpme_please and GloriaB there you have it, you can enroll and be happy. FAQ: Who is eligible to enroll in the Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program? The Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program is offered to both US and foreign individual, joint (50/50 ownership only) and organization securities accounts (IBLLC or IB-UK [Introducing Broker] only) with free credit cash balances above $250,000. Free cash balances are cash balances in excess of margin requirements. Individual accounts with a transfer on death provision, joint accounts that have uneven ownership, and trust accounts are not eligible because of the complexity of the FDIC rules. https://gdcdyn.interactivebrokers.c...ntegratedcashmanagement&showcase=SweepProgram