Query for UK Expats or British people who want to invest back in the UK

[Albatross]

I've been based outside the UK for a while now, but want to invest in stocks via the London Stock Exchange. I am based in HK and want to move my money physically out of this territory given the state of things here.

I do not have a securities trading account in the UK.

I called up HSBC UK and they said I would need to be tax resident in the UK in order to set up a securities trading account with them (so even if, for example, I went back to the UK for 2 weeks, they simply would not allow me to open an account). I am not sure this advice is correct from a legal standpoint, but it seemed to be their bank policy.

I am not UK tax resident.

It appears therefore that I cannot invest my money back in the UK and will have to continue investing through stock exchanges where I am now.

Anyone in a similar position wanting to invest via the UK and not being able to? Any advice?

[bwall]

First off, why would you want to invest your money in the UK?

All joking aside, it is possible to invest in the UK via Hong Kong.

Most companies have what are called ADR (American Depository Receipts) in the USA. It allows for non-USA companies' stock to be traded in the USA. I believe that all major exchanges have a similar policy for cross-listings.

So, you could invest in BP, Diageo, Unilever, or whatever, via Hong Kong. The price of the stock will be affected by the exchange rate, but it will be a wash transaction. For example, if BP trades in London at 30 GBP/share and the exchange rate to HKD is 10 to 1, then you'd have a pricing of 300 HKD/share. If the HKD tanks, then the price of the share would go up by a corresponding amount. Thus, you'd still have 30 GBP/share value. Note: ADR's are priced differently than their original listing, so the simplified example above will not correspond to real life examples.

This is how Americans can invest in Daimler Benz, BMW, VW, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, etc. via the comfort and ease of the NYSE.

TL;DR: Buy your UK stocks on the Hong Kong exchange and sleep well at night knowing that your money is invested in the UK, not HK.