Close to 2,500 former clients of W&R Morrogh are expected to apply to the Investor Compensation Company Ltd (ICCL) for compensation by today's deadline.
More than 500 claims have been lodged by investors in the past week as the five-month window for such claims closed.
Former W&R Morrogh clients who had holdings of US traded stocks in nominee accounts were contacted at the end of November by the receiver, Mr Tom Grace of PricewaterhouseCoopers, to remind them to seek compensation under the scheme.
Investors who did not hold share certificates for stock bought through the firm were advised to make a protective claim, and informed that contract notes from the stockbroker did not count as share certificates.
Customers of failed authorised investment firms are entitled to €20,000 (£15,751), or 90 per cent of their net loss, whichever is the lesser amount.
The industry-funded scheme is intended to provide a quick payout for small investors who may be owed money. The payout to this group of former clients is expected to be in the region of £3 million (€3.8 million). This is substantial compared to the two previous cases handled by the scheme.
Once claims are verified by the receiver, they may be paid out by the ICCL, which can be recompensed later on a pro-rata basis from funds allocated to the claimants by the receiver when the receivership is completed.
There is some doubt about the quantity of US and other stocks available, according to sources at Morrogh. In some cases there are less shares available than the number claimed by clients. Where there is a shortfall, legal advice will be required to decide the allocation of shares.
A spokesman for the receiver said cash claims and simple claims would be dealt with very promptly, but that claims relating to shares held in nominee accounts would take longer to verify.
The Cork firm collapsed last April after Mr Stephen Pearson, its junior partner, lost millions in trading financial futures and options. An investigation by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is continuing.
W&R Morrogh went into receivership with an estimated deficit of £3 million sterling (€4.8 million). The trading losses are estimated to have exceeded £5 million sterling and were partly mitigated by W&R Morrogh's realising the equity it held in the London Stock Exchange shortly before the collapse of the firm.
It is understood the trading losses were financed by failure to purchase stock when paid and instructed to do so, selling stock without instruction and diverting the proceeds, and by diverting funds due to clients from authorised sales.
The number of clients who lost money directly through fraud is thought to be less than 50, but substantial sums of money are involved. Most of the former Morrogh clients lost money not because their accounts were interfered with, but because the partnership had collapsed.
The receiver, Mr Grace, is being assisted by four Morrogh staff and Mr Alex Morrogh, the senior partner and 60 per cent owner of the brokerage.
Any dividend from the receivership is not likely to be paid for three years or more, a spokesman for the receiver said. The principal salvation for the majority of investors would be through the ICCL, the spokesman said.
Compensation for former clients of Morrogh will come from a one-off top-up of funding by a group of contributors to the ICCL, comprising investment firms, stockbrokers and credit institutions.
