TWO working groups set up to examine the collapse of the Cork stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh will report their findings within weeks.

AT least, for a change, the Government can’t be blamed for the disappearance of the €5.7 million in a scam that left some people without their life savings.

A former senior partner at a leading stockbrokers in Cork who had spent seven years training as a monk is to be sentenced today for defrauding clients of €4.6m.

FORMER W&R Morrogh Stockbrokers partner Stephen Pearson pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of defrauding the company's clients of €5.7 million.

THE financial calm of the business hub of the South West - Cork’s South Mall - abruptly shattered when the city’s only homegrown stockbroking firm went to the wall.

THE fallout from the plundering of more than €5 million from the clients of failed stockbrokers W&R Morrogh is expected to result in a massive overhaul of investor compensation law in Ireland.

CLIENTS of failed stockbrokers W&R Morrogh are to get their hands on two-thirds of the €10 million in shares held by the firm in the coming weeks.

A junior partner in failed Cork stockbrokers, W&R Morrogh, has pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to fraudulently converting almost Stg £17,000.

A TOTAL of €10 million in compensation is to be paid to the 2,600 clients of failed stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh from the industry-funded Investor Compensation Fund.

A FORMER stockbroker was yesterday charged over the misappropriation of €5.8 million of shareholders' funds in the biggest securities fraud in the history of the State.

THE Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) has set out its stall for the next three years placing a strong emphasis on a fair deal for the consumer and strict ethical behaviour by the financial institutions.

REDRESS payments to clients of failed stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh are to exceed €5.2m after the Investor Compensation Company decided to cover extra losses arising out of the liquidation of the company.

CALLS to have the levels of compensation payable under the Investor Compensation Act increased from 20,000 to 1 million have been rejected by Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy.

THE Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) has conceded that the liquidation of stockbrokers W&R Morrogh has exposed major weaknesses in Irish law, leading to an unsatisfactory process of winding up the firm.

THE trust and confidence Irish investors hold in the Central Bank will disappear for good, if the issues surrounding the insecure status of shares held in trust are not resolved, it was claimed last night.

FINANCE Minister Charlie McCreevy is investigating changing legislation following a High Court ruling which permits the confiscation of client funds held in trust to pay the costs of a receiver.

DISGRUNTLED clients of defunct stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh are to mount a Supreme Court challenge to a High Court decree which ordered that more than €5 million in shares held in their names should be used to pay the estimated €3m costs of receiver Tom Grace.

EQUITY investors who want to trade shares regularly should use British stockbrokers until the status of shares held in trust by Irish stockbrokers is changed to safeguard investors’ interests, the Consumer Association warned last night.

INVESTORS with billions of euro in shares held in trust by stockbrokers should get their hands on their share certificates to avoid their assets being seized in a default situation, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority's prudential director advised last night.

THE stockbroking community has been thrown into turmoil by a High Court judgment which undermines the secure status of billions of euro worth of shares held in trustee accounts and electronically.

IRELAND’S biggest stockbroking firm Davy Stockbrokers was rocked yesterday by the defection of eight of its top private client management team to Morgan Stanley Quilter.

THE security and status of billions of euro in shares held electronically for Irish shareholders will be seriously compromised if the High Court rules this week to give a receiver the right to sell shares held in trust by failed stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh.

THE collapse of stockbrokers W&R Morrogh is expected to cost the Investor Compensation Fund €5.2 million it has emerged.

THE security of billions of euro in shares held electronically for Irish shareholders will be compromised if the country's top liquidator succeeds in selling shares held in trust by a stockbroking firm in receivership.

MORE than €2.2 million in compensation payments is to be sent out to 579 clients who lost cash when stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh collapsed 15 months ago with a shortfall of €10 million.