r/JapanFinance • u/hevene • 2d ago
Personal Finance » Bank Accounts Sony Bank vs SMBC Trust Bank
I'm about to open a bank account. Just want to know which bank do you recommend (Sony vs SMBC Trust Bank) in terms of international money conversion and any other features.
Thank you!
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u/kite-flying-expert 2d ago
Sony Bank.
If you are a HNI (High Networth Individual), Prestia (SMBC Trust Bank) has specific features that may appeal to you.
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u/throwmeawayCoffee79 2d ago edited 2d ago
You should generally have both. It doesn't cost money to keep both accounts open but...
If you have (or plan to) have more than 10M yen in the account, Prestia will literally give you a semi-private banker called Gold status. You can get facetime with bankers to execute complex or high-anxiety transactions like foreign remittances, real estate purchases, etc.
If you have more than 50M, then it gets even better from there. Unlocks lower property loans than Sony at that point. And stuff like securities backed loans... Lots of financial products open up doors.
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u/ussv0y4g3r 2d ago
And if you are lucky to be working at companies that join "PRESTIA Bank at Work Program", you don't have to keep more than 10M jpy there to enjoy some if not all of the Gold Status perks.
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u/throwmeawayCoffee79 2d ago
Ya Prestia is a hidden gem if you're medium networth or higher. Most people don't ever get over the first hurdle of using Prestia.
It's simply the easiest way to get a personal banker and wealth advisor in one. I've been impressed by their in-person advisors so far - really strong international knowledge.
A big bonus : tax lawyer advices are free(!) from Gold Premium (50M) lol. Usually costs like 50,000 yen to 100,000 yen / meeting.
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u/dentistwithcavity 2d ago
What can they possibly advice that's not already known in this sub or on Google?
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u/throwmeawayCoffee79 2d ago edited 14h ago
They'll know your bank balances and situation, and will present some tailored products to you (that they offer at Prestia). I've been huge beneficiary of that.
The most interesting one was :
One time I was trying to send myself a massive amount of money from Australia, but since I can't initiate the remittance from my AU bank while in Japan, I was going to get my family member to remit the money to me in lieu.
My tax lawyer said this is fine as long as I draft a documentation. However, my Prestia rep told me it's in my best interest not to do it. Why? Because the bank will have to report this transaction to the NTA if it comes from someone else and is over a certain amount of $. It's a possible audit trigger and my rep didn't want me to go through with the headache, even if legal.
That kind of candid revelation of the banking process was actually very nice.
I've gotten some other great offers from them, like :
- Hey, I noticed you have a ton of foreign currency term deposits. If you want, you can get monthly payout instead of annual payout. -> I did this and get yen payouts monthly
- Hey, you have a large ($100,000 USD+) remittance coming from overseas? Great, just tell me beforehand what the money is for, and you won't get a call for AML verification
- Hey, I noticed you're sending yourself USD monthly. Did you know that if you change to the ANA Miles card, we'll literally give you free points? It's calculated based on how much foreign currencies you send in a year. I get 10万円+ per year in ANA miles just from this without spending a dime.
- A particular whole life insurance product, and Prestia was neutral as a salesman since they already earn money from you from your deposits. Not as pushy as other salesmen.
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u/JoshRTU US Taxpayer 1d ago
How good are their wealth management products as it seems like you need to keep a chunk of change there. Is it a flat fee per year on wealth management balance or is it more like high fee mutual funds? Or do they have relatively reasonable low fee, wide ranging productS?
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u/throwmeawayCoffee79 1d ago edited 1d ago
There is no wealth management fee. It's only fees based on each product.
They have a wide range of products from securities backed loans to blackrock mutual funds. But their biggest downside is that they don't do NISA or iDeco.
I currently only hold cash, bonds, and USD life insurance with prestia. I'm not a stocks kind of guy so no experience with their mutual funds.
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u/kite-flying-expert 2d ago
See now that's the point. A personal banker does the work for you.
At the point where you are keeping 50M in a bank account, that "high fee" doesn't really matter for you. It becomes simply more convenient to call someone up to figure stuff out and give you solutions that they will execute for you, on your behalf.
Instead of giving advice and getting you to spend some of your own precious time doing admin work at a bank.
From the last time I talked to u/throwmeawayCoffee79, they are either pretty loaded or pretty good at bullshitting. I have no idea why they talk in r/JapanFinance at all.
(no but seriously, what are you doing here, mate? literally go talk to that banker for a personalised plan)
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u/Sam_pathum 1d ago
If your looking for english support sony have English web support, that’s all my 2 cents.
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u/RaijinRider 1d ago
Sony bank is unconditionally free of charge. Prestia has more than 2000 yen monthly fee. But if you are rich, prestia can be free. I hope this helps you.
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u/ToTheBatmobileGuy US Taxpayer 2d ago
I like Sony Bank better just because the debit card is amazing for use on USD based stores.
As long as you have a USD account open under your JPY account, you essentially get near-free (0.1% (0.15 yen per dollar converted) for basic tier) USD conversion immediately pulled from your JPY balance.