Government Debt

[electroslave]

I am thinking with the banking crisis at the moment it might not be a bad idea to get rid of my cash stiing on deposit and invest in some sovereign debt. Does anyone know the cheapest way to buy Irish or other European government debt? It sounds to me from their websites that brokers here charge about 1.25% to buy exchange traded securities such as stocks and bonds, if this is done for both buy and sell then you could be talking in the region of 2.5% commission depending on whether price rises or falls which seems excessive.

 

[jpd]

Don't forget to add the bid/ask spread.

Davy charge 0.5% commission to buy Benchmark bonds (ie the most liquid ones) but you have to factor tin the bid/ask spread as well. Also they have a €40 fixed charge on top.

Most online continental brokers are much cheaper - typically around 0.2 - 0.5 % depending on size of purchase.