I am looking for a cost-effective and convenient way to trade in Asian
securities online. Specifically I am interested in buying and selling
shares listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

I am a Canadian citizen and I reside in Canada, and I already access
to online Canadian trading accounts (TD Waterhouse, CIBC Investors'
Edge, etc.). However, these accounts only let you execute Canadian and
US trades, any foreign trades need to be done through someone who
contacts someone else in that other country, and the fees quickly add
up, often over C$300 to C$400 a trade, and it takes forever to execute
a trade.

I am assuming my best bet is to set up an online trading account in
Hong Kong. However, the places I checked out the last time I was there
told me that I had to be a Hong Kong resident or citizen with a Hong
Kong Identity Card (I am neither, all I have is my Canadian passport),
or at least I needed a utilities bill with my name as proof of a Hong
Kong address, which I also do not have.
If it helps, I do have a bank account with a major Hong Kong bank.

If you find me a place to go to in Hong Kong, I plan to be in the
region again early next week on some business, and would be able to
physically walk into a bank branch or office etc to sign-up.

Alternatively, your answer can be an option based in Canada.

I only want to deal with reliable institutions, like banks etc. I
consider fees/commissions of around C$100 for a C$5000 purchase
reasonable.

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Clarification of Question by burnt_toast-ga on 19 Aug 2004 06:45 PDT

I also wouldn't mind setting up an account in Singapore, and can
physically be there as well to sign up as well. But again I must be
able to trade in Hong Kong stocks with this account through the
internet for reasonable fees.

Try to call HSBC in Canada.  I am a HK resident but one of my
Singaporean friend asked me how he could trade HK securities online. 
I then refer to my friend who was a broker at HSBC HK, my broker
friend told me my Singaporean friend could either contact him, where
he would arrange account opening form to courier to my friend in
Singapore or alternative, my friend can contact HSBC branch in
Singapore.  The different of course is if my broker friend was
contacted directly, since all the arrangement would be done using
courier service (no charge to client), it could be done in 1-2 days (2
days to Singapore and 2-3 days back from Singapore; if HSBC branch is
contacted, it would take normally 2-3 weeks (which was what my
Singaporean friend has done although I didn't know why it would take
that long.  The only reason I could think of is that my broker friend
want to have a new client and therefore would accelerate the deal
while going through HSBC Singapore branch would result in lots of
administrative burden and processes