Clients of AIB's brokerage firm Goodbody told to exit BoI

[BoyRacer]

Shane Ross: Goodbody takes a bath in AIB → independent.ie/opinion/colum … 52049.html

**Last week, Nick Webb and I discovered that Goodbody decided – back in November 2008 – that AIB shares were a cut above those of rival Bank of Ireland.
**So convinced was Goodbody of its parent’s virtues that it made a “house call” to exit Bank of Ireland stock across all its discretionary portfolios and to buy AIB shares with the proceeds.
Goodbody has the largest private client base in Ireland. A decision to sell discretionary shares means the brokers do not have to consult with the client. They just do it.
Goodbody just did it. They sold Bank of Ireland and bought AIB.
Their big bosses in AIB’s Ballsbridge Bank Centre must have been pleased, because Goodbody has massive fire power in the market.
Last week a Goodbody spokesman categorically denied that this was a share support scheme. No doubt, but Goodbody just happened to be great supporters of the shares.
A decision by a giant like Goodbody, the child of AIB, to exit BoI across all their discretionary portfolios and to reinvest the proceeds in AIB shares could alter the market capitalisation of both banks. The fateful decision happened in the frenzied days of November 2008.
Think back to November 2008. The emergency bank guarantee had occurred just a month earlier; panic stalked the markets; prices were see-sawing; overseas sellers were fleeing the Irish banks; AIB shares were tumbling.
In the middle of the storm Goodbody made a big decision on behalf of their discretionary clients – evacuate the B of I ship, and climb on board AIB.
Today they indignantly insist that the switch was made on investment grounds. At the same time they are pleading that, in some cases at least, they switched free of commission. Now why in God’s name would they do that?

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Clients of AIB’s brokerage firm told to exit BoI → independent.ie/business/iris … 52040.html

GOODBODY, Ireland’s premier private client stockbrokers, switched large blocks of clients’ funds out of Bank of Ireland (BoI) stock into AIB shares at a time of stock market turmoil in November 2008.
Goodbody is fully owned by AIB.
According to documents seen by the Sunday Independent, Goodbody made a “house call” in November 2008 that BoI shares should be “exited across all Goodbody discretionary portfolios”. This was accompanied by Goodbody’s decision “to switch the proceeds into AIB”.
Decisions taken by discretionary fund managers do not need reference to the client in advance. Goodbody manages one of the biggest discretionary portfolios of private client funds in the country.
Last week, one Goodbody source said the brokers had “a couple of billion under management at the time”.

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[Open_Window]

Everything is rigged.