PRESTIA (SMBC) - Private Banking

[Owl]

I have some USD funds with a Swiss private bank in Singapore that I am thinking of transferring to Japan. The bank in Singapore is about to introduce a $10K relationship fee which I am not interested in paying. The money in Singapore is taxed in Japan.( FYI I live in Tokyo, British national, mono-lingual English speaker, Japanese spouse/2 kids). Reading the forum, and looking at the websites of Prestia, Shinsei and Sony, it looks like Prestia may be the best option. Surprisingly, at the "gold" level they look pretty attractive for "vanila banking" - better than the private bank I am with in Singapore in terms of TT fees and FTD interest rates on some maturities for example. FX commissions may not be very competitive though. I have set up accounts with Prestia, Shinsei and Sony - all with relatively small balances. So some specific questions: 1. How complicated was it transferring a large sum of money into Prestia - red tape, paperwork? Should I visit them ahead in advance of the TT? 2. Has anyone used Prestia services beyond vanila banking? Private banking services? Given we are probably here for the long term, I figure they may be a good portal to estate planning/death tax etc. TIA

[sutebayashi]

Does Prestia do private banking?

They were originally Citibank, but the Citibank Private banking operation got kicked out of Japan, if I remember correctly. There were famous photos of the American bosses bowing in apology

So unless Prestia fired up a new Private banking option, I am doubtful they have one.

They do have “gold” version of the vanilla banking with favourable fees, but one needs to have a certain balance to qualify.

I was a gold customer with Citibank back in the day, but in recent years keep my money in Monex etc mostly, and didn’t feel much benefit to maintaining my Prestia account. (I had largely drained my funds from there, and some time back they wrote me a letter telling me to boost my balance, or lose the gold status, so I just closed the account instead )

They did have attractive lifting fees for foreign currency, this was one thing the account was useful for.

[kizuki]

I have some USD funds with a Swiss private bank in Singapore that I am thinking of transferring to Japan. The bank in Singapore is about to introduce a $10K relationship fee which I am not interested in paying. The money in Singapore is taxed in Japan.( FYI I live in Tokyo, British national, mono-lingual English speaker, Japanese spouse/2 kids). Reading the forum, and looking at the websites of Prestia, Shinsei and Sony, it looks like Prestia may be the best option. Surprisingly, at the "gold" level they look pretty attractive for "vanila banking" - better than the private bank I am with in Singapore in terms of TT fees and FTD interest rates on some maturities for example. FX commissions may not be very competitive though. I have set up accounts with Prestia, Shinsei and Sony - all with relatively small balances. So some specific questions: 1. How complicated was it transferring a large sum of money into Prestia - red tape, paperwork? Should I visit them ahead in advance of the TT? 2. Has anyone used Prestia services beyond vanila banking? Private banking services? Given we are probably here for the long term, I figure they may be a good portal to estate planning/death tax etc. TIA

In my experience between Prestia and Sony, Prestia is way more hassle free in handling international transfers. It was straightforward to receive a large transfer where you would get a call confirming the transfer and asking for reason and source of funds to check for money laundering and terrorism. Post this the funds are immediately available. If incoming transfer is more than 30 million, you will need to visit the branch to fill out a form which needs to be submitted to Back of Japan. I use them for USD deposits and home loan too. And also considering an investment property loan. The gold level does get nice treatment but there used to be a lot more products during Citibank days.

[Tkydon]

Citi got banned from Private Banking, but Prestia does have a link on their main page to SMBC Trust Bank Private Banking...

https://www.smbctb.co.jp/en/private-banking/

[Nancy]

I was able to open an account with Prestia this past fall and am super happy at the moment, although I am not actually doing anything special with them. They cashed a dollar check from the US and put it directly into a dollar account (although it took 6 weeks to go through), and they allow you to invest the US dollars in regular savings account type of CDs for around 4%. Depending on the account, you can have the interest put in your Japanese account monthly, so good for retirees. I went directly to a Prestia branch and was assigned a personal banker, so I really appreciate this. (so when I went with the dollar check, which MUFJ would not cash, I had to be accepted as a client, it seemed.. I'm sure that this is not really necessary, but since I had a specific request, this is how it turned out). As a gold member, you can use a debit card overseas, which is linked to your dollar account, and can be accessed anywhere. You have to have a certain amount in the account, or they do charge a monthly fee. Also, If a spouse also has an account, they allow you to set up a system whereas if one of the people die, the other one can immediately have access to the the other person's account. (so you have to have a minimum fee to make this a free service, otherwise it costs 330,000 yen) but anyway, I thought it was really helpful.

[VG1]

Yes, SMBC Trust Bank has a private banking business different from Prestia which is the brand for their retail business (roughly for customers with assets below 1 oku).
SMBC bought Societe Generale Private banking in 2013 when SG decided to withdraw from Private Banking business in Japan. SMBC kept and grew this activity and the quality of their offer and service is probably better than other Japanese Private Banks as they got the expertise from SG. You can probably access to their service if you can invest more than 1 oku with them. Below that you will be offered something from Prestia (gold...etc).

[beanhead]

I was able to open an account with Prestia this past fall and am super happy at the moment, although I am not actually doing anything special with them. They cashed a dollar check from the US and put it directly into a dollar account (although it took 6 weeks to go through), and they allow you to invest the US dollars in regular savings account type of CDs for around 4%.

Are you referring to the Foreign Currency Time Deposit?

https://www.smbctb.co.jp/en/about_inter ... 1677971673

[Nancy]

Yes. I had forgotten what they were called. You can open a MultiMoney Account, besides your Japanese yen account.