Brokerage Safety

Hi Anon,

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Under sections 16, 17, 26 and 27 of the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) [https://sso.agc.gov.sg/SL/SFA2001-RG10 ], the gist of it is that the brokerage firm must keep customer assets in a trust account separate from the firm's own assets.

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These assets will be excluded from claims from creditors. That's the protection that is available for investors.

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So as long as a brokerage firm is licensed by MAS, they have to comply with the regulations.

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While I am prohibitied from setting up accounts with all 5 (as I am with Phillip Securities), I would say nothing is stopping you from doing so. Since security of your securities (pun not intended) is governed by industry regulations, your preferred brokerage should be one that you enjoy using. Open all 5 and try for yourself to find out.

I have all the 5 mentioned brokerage accounts.

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All of them are MAS licensed brokerages, where they have to hold investors' money and share holdings in separate trust accounts. So your money is safe even when they go bust.

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I used each of them for different purposes.

IBKR - for my US stock portfolio, low fees, fractional shares

TDA - for options trading, the best platform in my opinion

Tiger/Moomoo - for short term SG/US stocks trading respectively, low fees

FSMone - for unit trusts, but switched to use POEMS instead