Private Investor

For details on how to apply, please click here.

Simply complete the online Application Form and send it with your initial deposit to us at the address shown on the form. Alternatively, you may request an application pack.

Davy Direct online Accounts are maintained separately from existing Davy accounts. You may wish to consider switching solely to online dealing or you may wish to keep your existing account with your Davy Direct online account. There are advantages and disadvantages to maintaining single accounts or parallel accounts. Your Davy Account Executive would be happy to discuss your requirements with you.

The minimum initial deposit required to open an account with Davy Direct is €2,000. Please note that you can only buy shares up to the value of the funds in your online account.

In order to transfer your existing holdings to your Davy Direct online Account you will need to send us your share certificates and signed CREST Transfer Forms.

Should you already hold shares in an existing Nominee Account with Davy, you can contact us to arrange to transfer these holdings to your Davy Direct online Account.

You can also transfer your existing holdings from other Brokers into your Davy Direct Share Dealing online account by emailing davydirect@davy.ie

Davy Direct does not charge for the transfer of holdings from other brokers. However, please note that other brokers may charge you a fee for the service.

You can transfer shares into your nominee account at any time free of charge.

It is an alternative to you holding paper share certificates. On the Company's electronic share register, the shares are registered in the name of Davy Nominees, however you remain the beneficial owner of the shares. All mailings from the Company are sent to Davy Nominees, who will notify you when necessary.

If for any reason you decide that you do not wish to continue holding your shares in our Nominee Service our Client Support Unit will assist you in transferring or certificating your holding following a written instruction from you. There is a fee for withdrawing shares to cover our administration costs of €30.25, inclusive of VAT, per holding. We would appreciate if you could enclose a cheque or bankdraft for the relevant amount when forwarding your written instruction to the Client Support Team if there are insufficient funds on your account. Please ensure that you include your Client Account Reference, as displayed on your Nominee Statement, Valuation or Transaction Statement, in your correspondence to enable us to process your request efficiently.

If you wish to transfer your holdings to another broker, please forward us a cheque or bank draft for the relevant amount together with a written instruction detailing the name of the Broker to which you want the shares transferred. Please ensure that you provide a contact name and telephone number in that company.

Please be advised that some foreign securities must be held electronically as the companies do not issue share certificates. In this instance, the security can be transferred to another broker of your choice.

European residents are eligible to open an online account. If you are a non European resident please email davydirect@davy.ie for further information.

There are two ways you can transfer funds into your online account.

1. You can post a cheque to us.
2. You can wire funds from your bank account to your online account.

Davy’s bank account details are as follows:

To transfer funds out of your Davy Direct account, click on "Funds Request" under "Account Services" on the left hand side on your online account. Please note, to transfer funds directly to your bank account, a written or faxed instruction of your bank account details is initially required.

Please see our Commission and charges page.

Once you reach 20 trades the following 'Frequent Trader' rates apply within a calendar year: the charges are 0.50% on the first €25,000 - 0.25% on the balance of your trade - with a €15 minimum commission.

If you qualify for 'Frequent Trader' rates, at the end of the calendar year your account will revert to our standard commission rates, but once you reach 20 trades again the following year you will again qualify for 'Frequent Trader' rates. All other fees and duties such as the Foreign Transaction Custody Charge and Government Stamp Duty will remain the same.

If you wish to receive Davy StockWatch, our weekly email highlighting Davy's latest research on Irish shares, please email davy.direct@davy.ie

If you wish to receive Davy Starting points, our daily email highlighting Davy's latest research on Irish shares, please email davy.direct@davy.ie

No, you must deposit funds in advance into your Davy Direct online account before buying any shares. You can only deposit funds by cheque or bank draft.

Yes, it is possible to transfer funds from your Davy deposit accounts to your online Trading Account.

When you apply for a Davy Direct online Account just fill in the details of your current Davy Client Account Reference Number on the application form and the amount of funds you want to transfer and we will arrange for the funds to be transferred to your new Davy Direct online Account.

You need to send the new details in writing to us with any required supporting documents (for example, marriage certificate to change your name). For full details refer to Personal Details on the personalised page on your online Account.

Please email davydirect@davy.ie and include your Davy account number.

Please email davy.direct@davy.ie with your stock request

One of the attractions of Davy Direct is that you can customise the service to meet your needs. For instance, you can: Personalise the Reuters News service to filter news items of particular interest. Monitor the price of shares you are interested in through our StockWatch service previous trading day. You can use this feature to compare the value of your investments now with the original purchase value.

To close your Davy Direct account, we require written instructions. Please fax your request to close your account to fax number: 01 614 8724.

Irish and UK markets are open 8am - 4:30 pm GMT, Monday - Friday;

US markets are open 2:30pm - 9:00 pm GMT, Monday - Friday.

However, you can enter trades through Davy Direct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but your order will only be dealt during market hours.

You will be able to place online buy and sell orders in almost all Irish and all major internationally quoted shares. However, you will not be able to buy or sell online other types of investments such as options, futures, unit trusts, investment trusts or tracker bonds, although you will be able to view these investments in your online valuation. If you wish to invest in these types of investments, please phone the Davy Dealing Desk on +353-1-6149000. In addition, due to limitations with the Irish Stock Exchange's electronic trading system, some Irish shares cannot be traded online.

Yes, most international shares are available for trading.

If there is any stock unavailable for trading, please send us an email to request it to be set up for online trading.

davy.direct@davy.ie

This means that when you place an order, you set a price that will either be the highest price you are willing to pay for the shares, or the lowest price at which you are willing to sell the shares.

Yes. If we are unable to provide you with a firm quote in the stock you want to trade, you can place a limit order on our Orderbook for execution. Limit orders will automatically expire on Friday of the week following the week in which they are placed, unless they have been already dealt before that time, or cancelled by you. You should not assume your limit order has been placed on our order book to be executed until you see online confirmation that the order has been placed on our order book. If you do not receive online confirmation after placing a limit order, please contact our Dealing Desk +353 1 614 9000.

We do not accept orders "At Market" or "At Best" either through Davy Direct online or by telephone.

An "At Market" or "At Best" order is where you place an order without a price limit and you are willing to accept whatever price the market dictates at the time of dealing.

Davy Direct cannot accept orders for shares that are trading for less than one cent (1c).

If your order is rejected, please call the dealing desk on 01 614 9000.

Certain companies restrict ownership of their shares on the basis of nationality; while we will use best efforts to advise you of these restrictions, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are entitled to own and hold the securities that you purchase.

The restrictions are varied and can apply to

• Non-UK nationals (BAE Systems, British Airways, Rolls Royce, British Regional Airlines)
• Non-EU nationals (Ryanair)
• Non-EU or European Economic Area nationals (AB Airlines)
• Non-Irish nationals (Aer Lingus)

If a company finds that the amount of shares held by non-nationals (as above) has breached its limit, and we then make a purchase on behalf of a non-national (as above), then we will receive a compulsory order from the company to dispose of the shares. Davy has no choice in this matter and the shares will need to be disposed of immediately.

No. All orders through your Davy Direct online Account will settle on settlement date or as soon as practicable after that date. Irish, UK, US and European shares settle 3 days after trade date.

If you can't find the share you want to buy/sell using our online search facility, please telephone the Dealing Desk at +353-1-614 9000. Once we add the share to our list of shares, you will be able to buy/sell it online. However, if you place an order with the Dealing Desk by phone, you will be charged the standard commission for telephone trading.

Yes. This is possible because your shares are held in our nominee name. However, please note that you can only buy shares up to the value of the funds lodged to your online account.

Once your sale has been dealt, you can reinvest the proceeds.

If your order is dealt immediately by accepting a firm quote within the quote validity period, you will not be able to cancel the trade. If you place an order on our Orderbook for later execution, you may attempt to cancel the order, using the Request order cancellation option on your online Account or by calling the Davy Direct Execution Desk at +353-(0)1-614-9000. However, if the order has subsequently dealt you will not be able to cancel it.

The system contains safeguards that are designed to minimise your risk of errors. For example, you can only buy shares to the value of funds that you have on your online Account, and sell holdings that are registered in your Nominee Account Service.

You should not assume that your order has been executed until you see the online confirmation of execution, even if you click to accept a firm quote online. In the unlikely event that you do not receive on-line confirmation after accepting a quote, please contact our Dealing Desk +353 1 614 9000.

Please contact our Dealing Desk +353 1 614 9000.

Davy Direct will pay interest on your bank account only at the prevailing market deposit rate at that time. We will calculate interest from the date the money is deposited and cleared, until the date the money is paid out or used in settlement or processing. Interest will be credited monthly. Interest is not payable on monies in the course of settlement or processing. The current rate of interest is available by emailing davydirect@davy.ie.

Yes. You cannot buy shares online if you do not have sufficient funds in your Davy Direct online account.

You can change your password at any time in two ways:

You can change your password online. Once you have logged on to your Davy Direct online Account, click on "Account Services" on the left hand side - Edit my Details - Change password.

You will automatically be logged out after 10 minutes of inactivity.

You will automatically be locked out from your account after 3 unsuccessful login attempts.

We generally display the price of the stock on the primary exchange.

If you would like a price for the secondary exchange, please call the dealing desk on +353-(0)1-614-9000.

Yes, Exchange Traded Funds are available for trading.

Click Available ETFs on Davy Direct for a full list of EFTs available for trading on our system.

You cannot place the orders online. If you would like to buy or sell funds, eg Davy Equity Fund, please send an email to davy.direct@davy.ie or call the dealing desk on 01 614 9000. The fund will be reflected on your online valuation.

Internet Explorer 5.5 or later versions. We cannot guarantee support for users viewing our site in other browsers.

Click on 'Help' on the menu bar of your browser. Select the "About?" text. Full details about your browser as well as the version will be detailed.

You may download the latest Internet Explorer browser version by selecting the appropriate link below:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download

Alternatively contact your Internet Service Provider for details.

Any computer capable of supporting Internet connectivity. We suggest that your PC's processing chip is 200 MHz or better. The modem will need to have a minimum speed of 28.8 Kbps. The higher the Kbps the faster the connection will be.

We support Davy Direct running on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later running on Microsoft NT, 2000 or XP operating systems.

The username and password are case sensitive. Make sure you type in your username and password in the correct case, that is, in UPPER CASE or lower case.

This website has been designed using the latest security standards for the communication of information over the Internet. All client information will be encrypted using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, to ensure it remains private. SSL is an open protocol for securing data communication across computer networks, and it provides a secure channel for data transmission through its encryption capabilities. It allows for the transfer of digitally signed certificates for message integrity, ensuring that the data can not be altered en route.

To maximise performance of the system, only those web pages with your client specific information are encrypted. Depending on how your browser is configured, you may get a browser-generated message informing you of the security status of different web pages.

To confirm that the SSL encryption is operational:

• If you are using a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, you will see a little golden key at the bottom of your browser screen after you have logged into your online Account. By double clicking on the golden key, you will be able to review the contents of the SSL certificate.

Phishing is an attempt to obtain sensitive personal information, such as passwords, account details or credit card numbers by the use of fraudulent emails and websites. The e-mails used to obtain this information typically purport to come from bona fide companies, and ask customers to provide personal information such as account login details. In fact, these e-mails have not been initiated by the financial services firms, and are fraudulent attempts to obtain private information. If you receive an email of this sort, please email davydirect@davy.ie.

For security reasons, the back button does not function.

A share option gives you the right to buy shares in your company or parent company in the future at a price fixed on the day the option is granted.

You get to participate in the financial rewards involved in the growth of your company as the company's financial performance is generally reflected in the value of its shares.

An APSS is an Approved Profit Sharing Scheme. The usual structure of and APSS is that employees are given the right to convert a profit-sharing bonus into shares in their employing company or its parent.

This depends on the type of share scheme in operation in your company. If it is a Revenue Approved Scheme, you can use up to 7.5% of your gross salary on an annual basis to buy additional shares.

The most you can invest in any one year is €12,697. However, this was increased under the Finance Act, 1999, on a once off basis, to €38,092, where the scheme is operated in conjunction with and Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT).

It depends. In Approved Profit Sharing Schemes, you are not charged income tax on the difference between the cost of the shares and the value on the date of transfer of ownership to you. However, you will have to pay Capital Gains Tax (currently 20%) on any subsequent capital gain. Please note you have an annual exemption of €1,269.

For other share incentive schemes, you will generally be liable for income tax on the difference between the cost of the share and the market price on the date of transfer of ownership to you. The Finance Act 2000 introduced approved share option schemes where no income tax liability applies on share options granted under a Revenue Approved scheme. Instead these options are liable to Capital Gains Tax (currently 20%) on any gain that arises on the sale of these shares. www.revenue.ie

If the employer is a publicly quoted company, the shares will be valued by the market and the share price listed in the financial section of the daily newspapers.

If your employer is a private company professional, share valuation experts will determine the value of shares for a specified period.

Traditionally, share option schemes were only available as an executive benefit. However, if your employer's scheme is an Approved Profit Sharing Scheme, then the scheme must be available to all employees on similar terms. The only differentiation allowed is to service, salary or 'similar factors'.

The employees are the beneficial owners - the trustees merely hold the shares on behalf of the employees. While shares are in the hands of the trustees, you may exercise shareholder rights and you are entitled to any dividends.

That depends.

Share Option Schemes: You may use the proceedings of the sale of the shares to fund the cost of the exercise of the option.

Save As You Earn Schemes: These are designed to let employees accumulate enough money to fund the cost of the exercise of the option. In that way, they are not forced to sell their shares on the date of exercise to fund the exercise cost. Employees participating in approved profit sharing schemes purchase the shares with their salary or bonuses at the beginning of the three-year trust period.

For employees to realise any gains on their shareholdings, a market must be created for the shares. Under the 1990 Companies Act and subject to certain conditions and restrictions, companies can purchase their own shares.