Barclays and Foreign Cheques

Mita

Several years ago, I inherited shares in two Hong Kong companies.  They only pay dividends in the form of Hong Kong dollar cheques and up until now I've had no problems paying these into my bank account.  However Barclays have recently told me that from January 2024, they will no longer be accepting foreign cheques. I contacted the Hong Kong companies and they said they have no plans to transfer the dividends into electronic form.  Uness I can find a bank that still accepts foreign cheques, I am now thinking of selling them however as I have paper share certificates, I've had no luck finding a company/broker who is willing to trade these for me.  Any ideas please?

wmb194

Mita said:

Several years ago, I inherited shares in two Hong Kong companies.  They only pay dividends in the form of Hong Kong dollar cheques and up until now I've had no problems paying these into my bank account.  However Barclays have recently told me that from January 2024, they will no longer be accepting foreign cheques. I contacted the Hong Kong companies and they said they have no plans to transfer the dividends into electronic form.  Uness I can find a bank that still accepts foreign cheques, I am now thinking of selling them however as I have paper share certificates, I've had no luck finding a company/broker who is willing to trade these for me.  Any ideas please?

Try HSBC. It's usually good with foreign cheques and you'd think anything Hong Kong related would be in its ballpark.

To sell the shares or lodge them with a nominee and receive dividends electronically that way, you could try Interactive Brokers. Another option might be to contact the share registrar - its name should be on the certificates - and ask whether it knows of any options for UK residents.

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/home.php

Mita

Hi wmb194, Many thanks for reply to my post. Interactive Brokers were unable to help and replied that the paper shares would need to be transferred electronically. However like other brokers, none could advise how to do this!  In the meantime, HSBC have been very helpful.  They still accept foreign cheques so I'll open an account with them solely to do this.  Not sure whether they deal in Hong Kong stock but we shall wait and see.  Thanks again for your advice.

Bostonerimus1

Mita said:

Hi wmb194, Many thanks for reply to my post. Interactive Brokers were unable to help and replied that the paper shares would need to be transferred electronically. However like other brokers, none could advise how to do this!  In the meantime, HSBC have been very helpful.  They still accept foreign cheques so I'll open an account with them solely to do this.  Not sure whether they deal in Hong Kong stock but we shall wait and see.  Thanks again for your advice.

You can always shame them by simply referring to their name and origins.

wmb194

Bostonerimus1 said:

Mita said:

Hi wmb194, Many thanks for reply to my post. Interactive Brokers were unable to help and replied that the paper shares would need to be transferred electronically. However like other brokers, none could advise how to do this!  In the meantime, HSBC have been very helpful.  They still accept foreign cheques so I'll open an account with them solely to do this.  Not sure whether they deal in Hong Kong stock but we shall wait and see.  Thanks again for your advice.

You can always shame them by simply referring to their name and origins.

To be fair there are plenty of British brokers that won't handle the certificates for LSE listed companies. They're a bit of an anachronism after all. From other threads, foreign certificates always seem to be a pain to deal with and should be avoided at all costs.