The Cheapest Irish Stockbroker

Yorky said:

kiki35, would you like (and are you allowed?) to say which shares you intend buying?

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Don't think your allowed!

No - you're not. Somebody with 420+ posts really should know that at this stage!

hi Yorky,

guess that means I cannot say what they are. We picked 4 solid Irish companies and one 'wild card' - also Irish. We worked out the P/E ratio for each one and read what some analysts have to say and then decided on 2 defensive stocks, 2 of the other type (cannot rem the classification) and 1 newcomer (wild card). 2 are food industry, one pharma, one financial, one property.

Getting back to the question, National Irish Bank are, as referenced very early in this thread, cheaper than almost all of the registered stockbrokers - check out their website. The commission per trade is only €20 online and you can buy stocks listed on about 13 different stock exchanges - I bought some shares in a well-known airline recently (not that they've done much) and the whole thing worked like a dream. I bought €150 worth (I'm no millionaire!) of another well-known stock last week, and it only cost me €170 - not the most intelligent way to invest perhaps, but again I don't have access to the sort of funds that the large stockbrokers need you to have. It has already gone up slightly and I'm only "down" about €12.50 now!

You have to be a customer though, and then open a Custody account, which wasn't as much hassle as I thought it would be, but I am now finding myself reading the stock tips on MorningStar and others and trading regularly - its like going racing, only the horses take much much longer to come in!! They also have Reuters News which is great!

No. There's no annual fee at all - just the commission charge (Min €20 per trade, but 0.75% after that, according to the blurb). Obviously, any tax issues are your own to settle up, but that's all.

I haven't sold anything yet mind you!

NIB used to have a E40 per-annum fee. I don't see it listed in [broken link removed] anymore.

Anybody know for sure when/if they dropped the per-annum fee?

Yeah, its gone - no charge, just the fee per trade - min €20, or 0.75%.

Personally, I only buy certificated shares on an execution type basis, I prefer to hold/manage the shares myself which is also cheaper & better for me as I wish to hold the share long term.
Initially, I started purchasing shares with Fexco, then they changed there pricing structure, so I never used them again. I am only a small time purchaser of share approx:€1000 each time.Since dumping Fexco I have since noticed that they spelt my name incorrectly on some of the Share certificates & have since had to send them to the relevant people to get them changedto my correct name.
Nowadays I only deal with Campbell O'Connor and find them excellent and no hassle. For your initial purchase your must provide the funds up front, along with the usual info, anti money laundering stuff same as opening a bank account. Once you have an account number, you can phone them, you quote your account no. & they will quote you the current price you say how many shares you want and they will execute the deal. They will send you the contract note & you will have a week or so to get the funds to them.They do not except cash or credit cards, so I send them a cheque for the amount.They will then send you the share certificate & a slip for you to send back to them to acknowledge that you received it.
The old downside to buying certificated shares is if you need to dispose of them quickly. ie: the share price plummets and you want to get out of the stock. To sell your share I think Campbell O'Connor must have possession. Since I have a long term strategy & I purchase 'safe shares'/'low risk' I have not had the need to sell any.
Another alternative is where some stocks offer cheap share dealing in their stock using someone like computershare.
The NIB online system seems good. You cannot get share certificates though.If that annual fee of €40 was gone it would be worth considering,especially since you can set limit orders

I went to open an NIB "Custody A/C" which is what is required for share dealing.

In addition to the usual info which is required to open an account these days (proof of identity and address), they required that I provide them with:

1. Copy of P60
2. Letter from employer stating how long you have been with them
3. Last three payslips.

In addition details of income outgoings, existing credit cards, loans etc.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does this not seem ridiculous to anyone (in particular those who are existing NIB customers as posted here, did you have to do all this)?? This to my mind seems like a serious amount of financial and personal information to have to give to open a current a/c!? I have opened two current accounts last year and all that was required was proof of identity and address. Needless to say I pointed out my concerns and walked from the branch. The deal they offer is quite good I think, having done much research on this forum and independently, but I would not feel comfortable giving that kind of info to any bank, unless I was applying for a mortgage or loan in which case I can understand why it is necessary. Maybe it is because NIB were one of the one who started the necessity for all the anti money laundering info in the first place with their off-shore accounts

I believe that such info would be used for targeted advertising by NIB of their products even though you can sign a disclaimer (in which you have to tick about 10 different boxes!) to say you don't want to be contacted.

I will probably go with Campbell O Connor, but unfortunately they don't have online facilities which I would find useful, and they also charge an annual rate for a CREST a/c. It is true what someone previously said, the small investor is not wanted in this country, look at the recent Smurfit Group offer..

OK .. A final Q .... Am just dipping my toe in the mad world of stocks and shares with very low €'s to go maybe €300 - €400 per quarter so want to keep fees low. Am I correct in saying:
for Irish stockmarket (maybe more but al least)
for on-line deals
NIB has a minumum charge of €20 and no annual maintenance charges

This seems to be the best deal as at March 12th, 2007.

A thunbs up would make me happy.

Regards

L.S.

For €300-€400 per quarter, I would say that investing through a fund may be a more cost effective method.

Yes Little sis NIB has minimum charge of €20 and no annual charge.

However when I rang them they were not so sure of how their nominee a/c works either (i.e whether the shares are held in CREST in your name or by the bank). It may be possible that they could start to charge for this in the future.

Because of that and the reasons I have already outlined (the amount of information they require to open an a/c), I have decided not to pursue it until they release more information on the holding account and explain why they need so much personal information when most stockbrokers and banks only require proof of identity and address.

As CCOVICH points out, for €300-400, a fund would be more cost effective as the initial fees and stamp duty on purchasing the shares would eat up on any gains you would make. Ideally you should keep your costs to below 2% of your initial investment. Prob best to spare up you €400 in a high interest deposit a/c and then buy a share(s) at the end of the year if you want to go the shares route.

Spot on with the AIB big brother approach. Slightly offtopic, I opened a a deposit a/c with them last year and when I went to deposit some more funds later in the year, they realised they hadn't conducted their full interrogation first time around so I was taken to a side office and asked more questions than even the taxman or my mother would ask ! And that was for me to deposit money. I shudder to think of the strip searches, bright lights etc that awaits me when withdrawing funds !

On the share dealing service, while on the surface it does appear attractive, I understand its not really online, prices are those from prior day's close, not sure how useful that would be in a volatile market !

Scratch the A in AIB and insert an N for nosey, or NIB

My Ma has some Intel stock that she bought in 2001 through ACC via Davey S/B?. She recently got a letter saying that ACC are no longer stockbroking and that she needs to find a new Stockbroker.

The Intel shares are about 20% down on what she paid for them. Should we go to the trouble of finding a new stockbroker for the purpose of just holding share (It's unlikely she's going to speculate on the market on an ongoing basis) or should she just off load the shares and cut her losses?

Any advice appreciated, particularly on what Irish stockbroker to use for this purpose or indeed if it is necessary to use an Irish stockbroker?

I opened a custody account with NIB a while back but I still haven't used it yet.
I seem to remember something about a €40 annual management fee for using the account although I can't find my copy of the terms & conditions to check this.

One question relating to these online share dealing accounts- can you purchase ETF's using NIB's online facility?

Hi

I have an account with an Irish stockbroker which was setup by default. I have shares on the AIM, ISEQ, NYSE, and on the NASDAQ which amount to a value of €10,000.

In the past when I have purchased shares I have asked (on the phone) to buy a certain amount of money's worth of shares. When I have recieved the shares the amount that has been bought is less than what I requested - not hugely but it's still not what I asked for. Am I being anal here or should they buy exactly what I say. I know the price will fluctuate so they will not be able to spend the exact amount of money I request but I would have thought this should be to the nearest share?

I have contacted other brokers with regard to moving my account and they have said that this would be more bother than it was worth. Is this correct?

I plan now to buy some shares on the DAX. Can you do this with any Irish stockbroker or what would be the best route?

Thanks in advance!

Jinty.

Just got my Sharewatch application pack today, with an apology for the delay (about a week) due to a huge demand for application packs of late.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the Goodbody downgrade?

conormc99 said:

With Sharewatch, if you buy 5 stocks with 10K (2K each) then this will cost you annual fee (=60) + 0.3% (=30) + 20 per security (=100) +1% stamp duty (=100).

Your total Year 1 cost with Sharewatch to buy 5 securities would be 290.

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Is this right??? Where did the +20 per security come from?? No mention of that in their cost structure. Just says 0.3% or a minimum of 19.95 (lets say 20 euro for convenience). I would understand this as: 5 stocks with 10k (2k each), this will amount to annual fee (=60) +0.3% (with a minimum of 20 per security) (= 2,000 euro*0.3% = 6 euro which is not >20 euro, therefore minimum cost of 20 euro applies, therefore = 20 euro*5 stocks = 100 euro. Stamp duty =1% = 100 euro
Therefore total cost = 60 +100 +100 = 260 euro!!
Can someone clarify please.

Has no-one suggested American internet brokers? I used to use www.firstrade.com and now I use www.zecco.com. Zecco is free, so all I pay is the cost of funding it from my AIB account (AIB charge €25 for any transfer up to €20k)