Thread: Stock brokerages in Panama

Banks in Panama tend to reserve brokerage accounts for customers of private banking - which means you need at least $250,000 to $1,000,000 to be considered for that (at least in Scotia Bank and HSBC, I don't know for the others)

I have heard that PROGRESSO and PROFITURO are brokerage houses in PANAMA that will do business with people who have less money.

Does anybody have experience trading shares in foreign stock exchanges from a Panama account or brokerage house?

I believe war is coming in the middle east soon (it's sad that the word "soon" is the only part that's really up for debate.) I want to invest heavily in oil and defense related stocks to profit from that.

Cheers,
Dan

Thales securities reorganized in Panama - CentralAmericaData :: The Regional Business Portal

http://www.conaval.gob.pa/files/info...casasvalor.pdf

Thales has about 1500 active clients so you get the picture of how non-functional everything is here.

Agreed, do it somewhere like the Turks and Caicos, English speaking and efficient. Or the USA.

Originally Posted by Eloff

Does anybody have experience trading shares in foreign stock exchanges from a Panama account or brokerage house?

No, but access to the U.S. exchanges through a U.S. brokerage firm would seem reliable.

Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A.
Torre de las Americas Suite B-1702
Punta Pacifica, Panama
P.O. Box 0823-05482
Panama City, Panama
Phone +507 3009400
Fax +507 300-9401

If you have 25k with Wells Fargo in the US you get 100 free trades per month. Zecco is another option with $5 trades. Ameritrade is my personal favorite.

Each deposit/withdrawal will run you $120 in Panama. You can not use any tax treaty benefits for lower withholding. Plus the cheapest option is probably around 0.5 % roundtrip with $20 minimum + service taxes so you need to trade for $8000 each time to use the fee fully. Not a very good solution unless you are looking for long-term parking.

Originally Posted by pingun

Ameritrade is my personal favorite.

Mine too. They typically give new account openers cash/free trades. Nor do they charge any fee for being custodian. I assumed he was looking for a phsical office to be able to walk into.

Thanks for the responses guys, it looks like Panama is a really bad option for stock trading. I'll have to look into the withholding angle more carefully. As a Canadian citizen I should be able to use a W8-BEN form, but then the trouble is the Canadian regulations prevent companies like Zecco from taking me on as a client unless I live outside of Canada (which I do, but then the validity of the W8-BEN form comes into question.) I can't stand the huge mass of regulations and red-tape and taxes that make up the Western world. For all Panama's warts, I'm glad to be here.

See here: Publication 515 (2011), Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities

If you open the account and put down a Canadian address 0, 0, 0, 15, 5, 0 would apply for withholding as you can see. If you put down a Panamanian address it would be 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30.