Bank of Ireland subsidiary Davy Stockbrokers “cannot be charging” customers quarterly brokerage fees of €50 as well as commission fees that are much higher than those levied by online brokers, if it wants to capitalise on the Government’s proposed savings investment account (SIA) scheme, the bank’s chairman said on Thursday. The SIA scheme, which Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris confirmed would be unveiled in October’s budget, could attract as much as €7 billion of investment from Irish households in its first year, according to industry estimates. At Bank of Ireland’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Dublin on Thursday, one shareholder said that Davy currently charges quarterly fees of €50 plus transaction fees that are “astronomical” compared to those charged by online broker platforms. “Billions are going to go into these savings investment accounts,” the shareholder said. “More and more people are going to be using online brokerages, and they’re not going to be using Davy.”Responding to the question, Bank of Ireland group chairman Akshaya Bhargava said the shareholder was “absolutely correct”. “We cannot charge people €50 [per quarter] and expect everyone to invest, because these are small investments," he said. “We will have to come up with a tailored kind of service.”More to follow...