Shinsei's Step-Up Program status post Monex transfer (and how to get it if you don't already)

[mighty58]

Anyone with investments held at Shinsei will already be aware, but Shinsei is getting out of the securities business, so all holdings at Shinsei will be transferred to Monex as of January 2022. For those who don't have a Monex account, a new one will be created for you. For those people (myself included) who already have a Monex account, the Shinsei account will still be transferred, and you'll have two accounts temporarily (for a few months) until they are ultimately combined into one (using the existing Monex account number).

The question I had, and finally found an answer to, is what happens to your Shinsei Step-Up Program status (Gold, Platinum) after this transfer. Shinsei was where I first started investing, many moons ago, and although I shifted everything over to Monex over the years (primarily to avoid fees), I did keep 3m-yen worth of investments in my Shinsei account solely for the purpose of maintaining Platinum status. Anyway, the answer is that they will continue to honour status based on this level, and that the Monex balance will now apply to the Shinsei Step-Up program, thus allowing us to keep our status. https://faq.shinseibank.com/faq_detail.html?id=888915

Now where this may interest some of you, is that I think there's a small window of opportunity to game this. This is for those who already have Shinsei accounts (as many of us foreigners do), but who do not yet enjoy the Step-Up Program benefits. In order to have your Monex balance work for the Shinsei Step-Up, you first need to have an investment balance that gets transferred from Shinsei to Monex. If you currently have nothing, you thus need to buy something while you still can (i.e this year). So just buy any investment product via your Shinsei account to create a balance that will need to be transferred to Monex. Once your account gets transferred, it will either be amalgamated with your current Monex account, or you can simply start investing there for a while to get it up to 3m, and then you can enjoy the benefits without the need to pay the Shinsei-level fees. If there is no balance to be transferred, you will not be able to enjoy this benefit. That's how I understand it, at least (admittedly, I could be wrong, but I've come across nothing that indicates this wouldn't work) so thought I'd share in case anyone was interested.

[RetireJapan]

That's really interesting, thanks for posting.

I keep a foreign currency deposit (I think 300,000 yen is enough) to get Shinsei Gold status, but that sounds like a good backup plan. I may try and buy something to get transferred

[Tony]

Also be aware that Shinsei is changing it's step-up program next year, introducing a new tier and making it more difficult to get Gold status. However you will keep your status for a year, instead of a month under the new system.

I currently hold 1mil in a 2-week term deposit (my emergency fund) to reach gold, but that will not be enough under the new program, so I'll open a securities account and buy 100k worth of emaxis slim to meet the requirements. I'm not the happiest about it, but I'm also not too put off by buying more emaxis slim.

Info about new system here: https://www.shinseibank.com/powerflex/r ... 8a#service

[RetireJapan]

Ah, Shinsei.

As soon as you stop hating them, they degrade their service again

[TJKansai]

I liked them when they offered free ATM withdrawals.

Is there any real benefit to this gold/platinum status?

[Butterball]

I liked them when they offered free ATM withdrawals.

Is there any real benefit to this gold/platinum status?

Well, free ATM withdrawls. Also a sufficient number of free bank transfers. Those are the only services I really care about for my purposes.
I'm still using Shinsei as my main bank; in principle it's annoying that they keep chipping away at their services but in practice none of the changes have affected the services I care about at my account level, and it looks like holding Y1m will continue to be enough for free ATM use at silver level, so I'll stick with them for now. I have bank accounts with... 6 banks, and Sony and Shinsei are the only ones that have never given me any headaches.

The only temptation luring me away right now is Rakuten Bank (points etc), although I've heard they're not great in the headache avoidance department.

[adamu]

The only temptation luring me away right now is Rakuten Bank (points etc), although I've heard they're not great in the headache avoidance department.

Rakuten is an exteremly noisy company whichever of their services you use. The interface is always a popup-filled mess, and they spam your mailbox no matter how hard you try to stop it.

But if you had that 1M in Rakuten Bank linked to a Rakuten Securities account, it would be earning 0.1% a year. I believe you'd also get 5 ATM withdrawals and 3 furikomis a month free.

I moved away from Shinsei to SBI net bank for my main account when they first ended the free ATM withdrawals, but I keep the emergency fund in Rakuten currently because the interest is the best. Still, 0.1% on 1M is 1000/year, so probably not worth the effort.

[mighty58]

For those using Monex as their primary investment account, and particularly for the type of person who visits boards like this one, the new Diamond Level (2,000man in investment balance) will likely be achieved.
What someone does with 50 free furikomi's a month is a separate question of course... I can picture myself sending small amounts of money to all my other accounts every month, just for the hell of it, as some sort of payback to the Japanese financial industry writ large for all the hassles they've put me through over the years. But that would be petty... haha.

[RetireJapan]

For those using Monex as their primary investment account, and particularly for the type of person who visits boards like this one, the new Diamond Level (2,000man in investment balance) will likely be achieved.

That is a very good point, thanks! Gives even more incentive to get that initial investment done through Shinsei.

[RetireJapan]

Actually I just had a look at this and according to my Shinsei account it is no longer possible to open a NISA or taxable account with them. Wonder if it will be possible to link Monex accounts to them after the move in January?