The Dublin financial advice firm National Deposit Brokers is closing after a Central Bank inspection uncovered "serious regulatory issues".
The nature of those issues was unclear last night when it emerged that the company was deauthorised a week ago at the request of its directors.
In an unusual development, the Central Bank had made it clear to the company that its authorisation would be revoked if the company did not seek a voluntary process. Among the best-known advisers in the State, the company is no longer licensed to trade.
National Deposit Brokers has about 900 clients, most of whom are elderly. The Central Bank said there were no solvency issues and that customers' funds were safe.
A director and co-owner of the firm, Mr Douglas Farrell, said it would move to appoint a liquidator soon and also said that clients' money was safe. He declined to reveal the volume of funds managed by the company.
Mr Farrell also refused to reveal the nature of the "issues" uncovered by the Central Bank, claiming that the inspection was initiated after the company brought "internal" matters to the bank's attention.
He said: "It's an unfortunate thing. It's a process that started quite some time ago. We're happy that it's arranged that there should be some formality to it."
Mr Farrell owns one-third of the company. His only co-director, Mr Ronnie Caraher, held another third. A former director, Mr Conor Murphy, who resigned a year ago, holds another third.
All three left the Ark Life subsidiary of AIB in 1993 to form National Deposit Brokers, which developed a small but significant presence in the brokerage business. The company had swish offices in the Old Distillery Building at Beresford Street in the north city but no one was answering the phones last evening. Neither was its website in operation.
Apart from stating that "serious regulatory issues" had emerged, the Central Bank's spokesman also declined to discuss the matters uncovered during the inspection.
He said: "We had intended to seek a revocation but decided that this was most expeditious and controlled path. There's no question of solvency. . . We weren't investigating a client funds problem nor did we suddenly find one."
It is thought that the inspection took place some months ago and was followed by a long legal correspondence. The bank planned to publish a press notice on Friday with telephone numbers for client inquiries.
The Bank's stance suggests it was very unhappy with the issues that emerged. It would have been prepared to seek court approval to deauthorise the company in the absence of cooperation from its directors.
Not a deposit taker per se, National Deposit Brokers specialised in advising customers where the best interest rates were available to depositors.
It also advised on equity, property, cash- and gilt-based investment products, and promoted tracker bonds. The company derived fee-based income from the institutions whose products were taken up by its clients.
Mr Farrell said the company was writing to its clients and to the institutions. A balance sheet lodged with Companies Office indicates that its creditors were owed £42,925 (€62,756) on August 31st last.
