UK stockbroker to close its Irish office at the end of January

Redmayne Bentley, a UK stockbroking and investment management company, is to close its Irish operation at the end of the month.

Established in 1875, Redmayne Bentley is one of the UK’s largest independently-owned stockbrokers, providing share dealing and investment management services.

It opened in Cork in 2009, its first branch outside of the UK, but has now decided to close the business on January 31st.

Nick Bettison, director of business and branch development, said: "Over the last few years our UK-based business has become more focused on discretionary investment management while the Irish business remains entirely execution-only."

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Mr Bettison added that while Redmayne Bentley will no longer have a presence in Ireland, it will continue to offer a full service to clients here from the UK.

Since March 2009 the Irish office has provided a personal stockbroking service for those wishing to invest in Irish and overseas shares, and offered some of the keenest rates among traditional stockbrokers.

The Cork management team will now look to re-establish the business with a local provider. A spokesman for the Cork operation says it expects to confirm its new business partner “very shortly”.

Changing landscape

Redmayne Bentley’s departure from the Irish market comes amid a changing landscape for execution-only trading. Despite the entry of Dutch broker De Giro into the Irish market back in 2015, promising a low-cost service, the increased competition has not led to lower prices elsewhere.

Davy and Goodbody stockbrokers, for example, raised their charges for execution-only customers at the start of this year.

A number of UK companies targeting the retail financial market have already departed, including Nationwide UK Ireland, Leeds Building Society, while Tesco pulled out of the Irish credit card market. Many UK-based financial services companies operated in Ireland on a cross-border basis under European Union passporting rules.

Once the UK departs the EU, however, these rules may no longer apply, which would mean that such companies would have to apply for a full licence in Ireland.