Direct Broking OMCA

[lissica]

I've been using a Macquarie CMT AUD$ Call Account for the last three years, but looks like that is about to end because they won't allow non-residents to hold that account.

I'm actually an Australian Tax Resident, but the company that does our share investments is domesticated in NZ.

Direct Broking are replacing that with an online-multi-currency account

Interested in your views about this. Who is getting one? Has anyone got one yet and do you like how it's working?

Big problems for me:
-There is no BPAY function (it's so easy to pay for SPP's without having to go to your bank to write out an AUD$ Cheque and being charged $20-30 to write a bank cheque)
-It's a NZ account, so transferring from an Australian (domesticated, not just a NZ based AUD$) bank account into NZ OMCA means wire transfer fees. DB said there is no charge on their end, but I know from experience wiring money from Aussie to NZ accounts costs about AU$30
-They said there is no charge to transfer from the OMCA to an Australian bank account. Has anyone tried this yet? I suspect that if it's the OMCA is a NZ based account then you'll be hit with wire transfer fees on the Australian end. The only way I see going around this is having a NZ based AUD$ foreign currency account, if you want to withdraw AUD$ without first having to convert it to NZ$ and then back to AU$

Otherwise I quite like the concept.

Liss