RaboDirect - Investment Service Terminates on 24/4/17

Deathknell

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Investment Account Withdrawal Information:
Following a review of the RaboDirect business in Ireland a decision has been made to withdraw the RaboDirect Investment Account on 24th April 2017.

Anyone know why?
 
No but I'd hazard a guess that it wasn't profitable - fees and commission income didn't cover cost of offices, staff, etc
 
Thats annoying. I had a few quid bobbing along since the mid noughties and was going to leave it for many more years to come.
 
Yeah. It is annoying. I called them, sounds like jpd's theory is correct - the official word is that they are concentrating on savings. Well at 1%, wtf is the point really. They are defaulting investments fund management to Cantor Fitzgerald. If you dont sell, the funds will roll over on the same T&Cs for a year after which CF fees apply. CF have 3500 funds and offer a full financial service package. Dont know anything else about them.
 
It was the online facilty at Rabo that enticed me + the low fees.
I'll prob sell up come April...hopefully the Asian stock markets don't go into tailspin on the news that I intend to cash out!!!
 
The gradual wind-down of RaboBank Ireland continues ...
- RaboBank firstly made big cuts to ACCBank.
- Then RaboBank shut ACCBank down.
- RaboBank exited their RaboDirect personal loan product in Ireland.
- RaboBank have virtually exited the term deposit market. A lot of their rates are zero.
- RaboBank have cut their instant access and notice account rates to close to zero. Not so long ago, Rabo aggressively advertised these products in newspapers, radio and billboards. Marketing is not conducted to any significant extent anymore.
- Now RaboBank have closed their Investment Account products.

What's next? Will RaboDirect shut down in Ireland?

More details on the closure are now on the RaboDirect website [broken link removed].
 
Letter arrived in the post this morning.

Based on a previous experience, I won't be in any hurry to deal with Cantor Fitz. - while I know things have moved on for them from 5-8 years ago, once bitten and all that....

....Will RaboDirect shut down in Ireland?....

Thats my bet, unfortunitely.

No investment in a Rabodirect phone app, no progress on product development, cuts cuts cuts... I'm expecting no more than their IFSC / Corporate Banking entity to remain.
 
Very disappointing!! But understandable.
Unfortunately, Ireland has a booming fund industry, with everyone in Europe benefiting from it - except the Irish.
Well, at least Rabo tried. Now, there is no viable way for Irish investors to directly invest in funds.
 
Very disappointing!! But understandable.
Unfortunately, Ireland has a booming fund industry, with everyone in Europe benefiting from it - except the Irish.
.

Not sure that everybody in Europe benefits. One of the reasons funds come here because of lax regulation (non obligatory guidelines) and the ability to make charges (eg performance fees on virtual non-performance) that would be outlawed in their home countries.
 
What's next? Will RaboDirect shut down in Ireland?
This would cause me a serious problem, as Rabo are the only bank I trust with deposits considerably bigger than the government guaranteed amounts. Does anyone have any recommendations for a safe haven for deposits in the absence of Rabo if it were to come to that?
 
Apart from holding emergency cash, there is no good reason for retaining cash on deposit these days. I appreciate that people might want a "risk free" home for their savings, but even the Banks are not truely risk free and there is a cost (in real terms) of holding money on deposit.
 
Are you saying that everyone should be 100% (or some very large percentage) in equities as a less risky alternative to deposits?
 
Are you saying that everyone should be 100% (or some very large percentage) in equities as a less risky alternative to deposits?

Absolutely not and how you came to that conclusion is beyond me....either your need your eyes tested, or you need to reconsider how to strike up a good debate :)
 
Does anyone else have any recommendations for a safe haven for deposits in the absence of Rabo if it were to come to that? Rabo are the only bank I trust with deposits considerably bigger than the government guaranteed amounts.
 
Yeah. It is annoying. I called them, sounds like jpd's theory is correct - the official word is that they are concentrating on savings. Well at 1%, wtf is the point really. They are defaulting investments fund management to Cantor Fitzgerald. If you dont sell, the funds will roll over on the same T&Cs for a year after which CF fees apply. CF have 3500 funds and offer a full financial service package. Dont know anything else about them.
Cantor don't offer a regular investment facility which is really disappointing - I have questioned both Rabos due diligence and the central banks process here, neither appear to have given a damn in either seeking or ensuring a suitable alternative replacement service is secured. Stockbroking accounts are not a comparable alternative replacement.
 
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Does anyone else have any recommendations for a safe haven for deposits in the absence of Rabo if it were to come to that? Rabo are the only bank I trust with deposits considerably bigger than the government guaranteed amounts.
Spread it across multiple 100K limit banks?
 
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