Rabobank has a top rating for creditworthiness, awarded by Moody's, Standard & Poor's, Fitch and Dominion Bond Rating Service and consistently maintains these ratings.

RaboDirect is the brand name of the internet bank that is part of Rabobank's Dublin branch. Accordingly RaboDirect has the same creditworthiness.

Rabobank is a member of (a) the Dutch Deposit Guarantee System and (b) the Dutch Investor Compensation Scheme, implemented by the Financial Supervision Act 2007 and related decrees. Broadly speaking, the Dutch Deposit Guarantee System deals with money - deposits in current and savings accounts - while the Dutch Investor Compensation Scheme is about securities held on your behalf by Rabobank. The Deposit Guarantee System and the Investor Protection Scheme will only become applicable if Rabobank enters into bankruptcy proceedings.

(a) Dutch Deposit Guarantee System

The Dutch Deposit Guarantee System guarantees the interests of account holders, and applies to deposits in current and savings accounts.  Under the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, if Rabobank is unable to meet its obligations to repay a customer's balance, the customer is guaranteed to be repaid 100% of the first €100,000 of his balance. In the case of a joint account, the maximum amount of €100,000 set out above applies to each joint account holder and so a joint deposit of €200,000 is fully covered if the depositors have no other accounts.

You can read more about the Dutch Deposit Guarantee System on the De Nederlanche Bank website.

(b) Dutch Investor Compensation Scheme

As a supervised Dutch bank, Rabobank is required to safeguard your securities and other financial instruments. This means that your securities are separated from the assets of the bank. Even if Rabobank goes out of business, you remain fully entitled to your assets. Practically speaking, you would have to instruct Rabobank to transfer your assets to another broker or bank. In the unlikely event that your assets are not identifiable anymore and have become part of the bankruptcy estate, the Dutch Investor Compensation Scheme may become applicable. If Rabobank is unable to meet its obligations to investor customers, the investor compensation scheme guarantees an amount up to €20,000. Note that loss caused as a consequence of a fall in the value of investments is not itself eligible for compensation.

(c) Procedure

If Rabobank goes out of business, the Dutch Central Bank ('DCB') will start the compensation process. Certain information is available on the website of the DCB (www.dnb.nl) in relation to the Deposit Guarantee Scheme and the Investor Compensation Scheme. Parts of this site are also accessible in the English language.

(d) Which RaboDirect customers may benefit from the Deposit Guarantee Scheme and the Investor Compensation Scheme?

Subject to very limited exceptions, in the unlikely event that Rabobank enters bankruptcy proceedings, the following types of RaboDirect customers may benefit from the Deposit Guarantee Scheme and the Investor Compensation Scheme:

(i) personal customers;
(ii) sole traders;
(iii) partnerships;
(iv) companies who satisfy at least two of the following conditions:

(A) a balance sheet total that does not exceed €4,400,000 per year;
(B) a net turnover not exceeding €8,800,000 per year; and
(C) a workforce not exceeding 50 people in the financial year.

The majority of funds offered by RaboDirect.ie have the Euro as their base currency, or have a Euro or Euro hedged fund alternative if the base currency is in US Dollars.

If Ireland decided not to operate within the Euro, and for example, reintroduced the Irish Pound, it would probably result in a depreciation of the currency against the Euro.

That means your Euro investments are likely to be in a stronger currency than the Irish Pound and your investment would remain in Euros until you sold your funds. At this point the value of your investments would be converted from Euro to the new currency.

Assets in mutual funds are ring-fenced, which means they're kept isolated from the Fund Management company and the custodian bank via a separate legal entity.

We have Luxembourg SICAV and UCITS funds on our platform. These are good for investors because it means the value of your investments are not linked or subject to a specific company or bank's balance sheet risk.

So even if Ireland decided to leave the Euro, which could have a negative impact on the wider European financial sector, your fund investments are safe.

As the straight-talking bank we think it's important to highlight that all investment funds have an element of risk and some require the investor to remain in the fund until maturity to realise their full earnings potential or protect your capital. This is worth considering if you think you might need access to your money in the near future or you're not completely comfortable with the risks involved.

If you're still not sure whether investing is right for you, you can take our What type of investor am I? questionnaire or you might wish to talk to an independent financial adivsor.

Don't worry, we'll still be here when you've decided what's best for you, and remember, we have some great savings and term deposit accounts if you think saving's a better option for you right now.

You can set up your investment account when you open your savings account or add it later. Once you're up and running you can buy investment funds until your heart's content (but not individual equity shares) and you'll have access to your account 24/7.

If you already have a savings account with us you're just a few steps away, simply:

1. Log in to your secure account
2. Follow the prompts to create an investment account
3. Give your account a name
4. Confirm the set up with your Digipass
5. And Hey Presto! You've just got yourself an investment account!

Click on the fund selector in any area of our site and you'll see a full list of the managed funds we have available. To start buying, log into your account and click on 'Purchase a fund' or 'Fund Selector'.

If you click the fund names, you'll get up-to-date factsheets with lots of information to help you decide which funds are right for you. Once you've decided, click the orange 'Buy' button next to the fund you want.

You'll be asked how much you'd like to invest, which savings account the money should come from and you'll be given the opportunity to add a promotion code if you have one. Once you've agreed to the terms and conditions and confirmed the order, we'll take care of the rest.

All your purchases and sales will be listed on your online statement.

An overview of all investment costs-per-product can be found on the Investment Fees page. Click here

No two investors are the same. While one may swear that "risk pays", another may argue that "security is everything". On the other hand, many investors may have a view that is somewhere in between. You must decide which profile best suits you and your investment objectives.

First determine your investor profile. Decide before-hand how much risk you are prepared to take with your investments. Identify your investment objectives, assess your comfort with the various levels of risk and reward, and clarify your long term investment goals.

To help you do this, complete the investor test: What kind of an investor am I?

We're what's known as an 'execution only' bank. Sounds a bit odd, but it just means we don't advise on which funds you should buy or sell. Instead, we aim to provide you with as much information as we can so you can make intelligent, informed decisions for yourself.

You'll find all this info on this website. Everything from investment factsheets, prospectuses and past performance figures (all found here) to podcasts, videos, blogs, articles from financial journalists and economists and independent market commentaries. We put in a great deal of time and effort to help ensure our investors are kept up to speed with what's going on in the market.

You can see a full history of all the transactions you've made when you log into your account online. Just click on your investment account number you'll be taken to a page called 'Your investment funds'. Click the orange 'Actions' button and select 'Executed orders'. This will give you a list of all the funds you've bought and sold.

If you click the 'Actions' button on this new screen and select 'Order Execution Details' you can see full details including dates, times, share prices, fund types and lots more.

A few examples…

BlackRock Fund
You buy before 10am on a Monday.
The order goes through at the close of business with that day's closing price.
The fund transaction appears on your online statement on Tuesday.

Robeco Fund
You buy before 2pm on a Monday.
The order goes through on Tuesday with Monday's closing price.
The fund transaction appears on your online statement on Wednesday.

Please remember: If the order is placed before the cut-off time, you'll get the closing price of that day. If it's after the cut-off, you'll get the closing price of the next dealing day.

It's not possible to amend orders if they've been executed unfortunately. But if your order is pending you can cancel it and start again without charge or penalty.

To cancel an order click on your investment account number and you'll be taken to the 'Your investment funds' page. Click the orange 'Actions' button and select 'Summary of orders pending'. The 'Actions' button on this screen will allow you to view or cancel orders.

Orders for investment funds will not be processed during the following days, execution will take place the next day a fund price is available.

Please be informed that orders can only be processed when fund prices are calculated. The availability of a fund price depends amongst others on the availability of the market prices of the holdings of a fund. The following dates are non dealing days for a selection of our funds:

- June 2nd, 13th, 23rd
- August 15th
- November 1st

Absolutely, you can buy and sell whenever you like. We don't have lock ins or exit penalties, just entry and exit fees. It's an unlikely scenario, but if you wanted to buy funds today and decided to sell them tomorrow - you could do it. The sale value would simply be added back into your RaboDirect Savings Account no questions asked.

Unlike the situation with a bank which physically holds client assets, Merrion Investment Managers does not hold any client monies. Therefore, the question of default does not arise. RaboDirect clients investing in Merrion Funds are purchasing shares in a separate corporate structure: Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc.   
 
Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc is an open-ended UCITS umbrella company with variable capital. Merrion Investment Managers Limited is the investment manager to the Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc. There are three sub-funds, the Merrion Balanced Fund, the Merrion Growth Fund and the Merrion Irish Opportunities Fund. These are the "Funds" available to RaboDirect customers.  
 
Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc employs the services of an independent custodian/trustee Northern Trust Custodial Services (Ireland) Limited as custodian of the underlying assets. The assets of Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc are held in safekeeping by the custodian separately in the name of Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc and with the legal ownership of these assets belonging to the Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc. The Manager does not have any ownership title or rights to the assets of the Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc and they are solely for the legal benefit/ownership of the Merrion Capital Investment Managers Plc and their underlying shareholders/unit-holders.

In the case that BlackRock went into default, the assets of their investment funds would not be affected directly.
BlackRock is not an Investment Bank but an Asset Manager.  As such, they're required by the Financial Authority to separate Fund Assets and Company Assets and place Fund Assets with an independent custodian. Their funds have been placed with The Bank of New York.

There can however be secondary effects if defaults impact other financial institutions that are held by one of the fund portfolios. To avoid conflicts of interest for MLIIF Investment Funds, they do not invest in their own BlackRock stock or affiliated companies.

BlackRock take over Merrill Lynch
BlackRock took over the Merrill Lynch (MLIIF) on 1 October 2006. Since then, funds have been managed by BlackRock with no further involvement from Merrill Lynch. The fund names changed from Merrill Lynch to BlackRock on 28 April 2008.

RaboDirect Investment Funds are exempt From New 1% Government Levy.

The Irish Government introduced a new 1% tax levy across numerous personal protection, savings, investments and pension products from the 1st August 2009 but we just wanted to reassure our investment customers that the levy will not apply to any of the funds offered by RaboDirect.

All our funds are Luxembourg based SICAV's and therefore subject to tax under the Irish Offshore Fund Rules.