Irish broker Bloxham told to halt trading
IRELAND’S oldest stockbroking firm Bloxham has ceased trading, on the orders of the central bank, after the discovery of “financial irregularities”.
Bloxham said yesterday that its income had been overstated over a number of years.
The firm’s financial partner was immediately suspended and management has hired a firm of forensic accountants to study its accounts.
Rival broker Davy said it had acquired Bloxham’s asset management business, handling assets exceeding €700m (£559m) in value. It did not disclose terms of the deal.
As part of the deal Bloxham’s asset management team, led by Pramit Ghose, will move across to Davy, which will continue to distribute funds through existing relationships with Irish Life and New Ireland.
“When the requirement arose to address our capital requirements, Davy, as a well resourced and market leading regulated entity was the obvious party,” said Ghose, who will become managing partner at Davy.
Referring to the investigation, Bloxham said that client funds were safe and would not be affected.
The broker said in a statement yesterday that it “no longer holds sufficient capital to meet the licensing requirements of the central bank to carry on trade as a stockbroker.
“As a result, on Friday evening last the central bank issued a direction to the firm to suspend trading,” it said.
Bloxham said the sale of its private client business to Davy, which was agreed last year, had also been completed. Client assets will be transferred on 6 June.