Ambrand.com

I’ve bought and sold shares on the NYSE since 1999. Recently I decided to buy some shares in the ISE so I signed up for the AIB Online Share Dealing service which is an add-on the AIB Online Banking, which is a joint venture with the child Goodbody.

I’m very dissapointed, at both the interface and the ISE! I’m not talking generally about losses on the market, everyone knows that shares are inherently risky, rather I’m talking about specific problems.

Whats wrong with the AIB interface?

• It doesn’t allow the user to input a “stop-loss” order
• The minimum trade cost is EUR 32 (too expensive, it should be EUR 15)

Whats wrong with the the ISE?

1. All purchases are attract an Irish Government Levy of 1 percent (now, while everyone hates paying tax, like stamp duty on a house purchase, the problem with charging on shares is that a dealer is only interested in profit, there is not maslowian carrot as in a house purchase, a classic government tax, profitable today, but ultimately it discourages foreign investment in the longer term)
2. Share values change slowly or never change (while this is good in that one is less likely to make a loss, it must be remembered that if one wanted to see zero profits then one could use a deposit account or a matress, look at the Tesco Ireland value over the last year! although there are always shares like that on any market)