Bank rates

I went to a branch of my bank on a recent Friday with an instruction for it to wire $10,000 to my account in the United States. The teller and I completed the paperwork and then she went off to get me the rate sheet. She came back with the sheet and confirmed the rate verbally and visually with another bank colleague in front of me. The rate of $1.185427 was then given to me, which equated to £8,435.78. I agreed to this and we completed and both signed the paperwork.

On the following Monday, I got a call from the bank teller informing me that she had given me the wrong rate and that the correct rate was $1.1498, which equates to £8,696.60. She requested another £260.82 before she could process the wire. I let her know I was unhappy with her error but agreed to pay the extra as the wire was overdue in the US. She never even apologised but after I requested the £25.00 fee be waived she agreed to this. Would I have a case against the bank for the £260.82, in your opinion?

Mr J.F., e-mail

I think you would certainly have a case. Whether you would win it or not is a different matter. Notwithstanding the fact that the £25 fee was waived following the error, I think you need to complain in writing to the manager of the bank branch in the first instance. It is not a matter of picking on the teller but simply a case of a contract you understood to be concluded being revised subsequently to your disadvantage.

If nothing else, the bank should reply to any written complaint, setting out a procedure for tackling such complaints. You should follow this procedure, giving the bank the possibility of rectifying the situation to your satisfaction.

If, however, the matter cannot be resolved in this procedure you should complain to the banking ombudsman, outlining the details of the case and the steps taken by both sides to resolve it.

Having spoken to people familiar with both banking and the ombudsman's office, the feeling is that such cases have been won by the complainant and they have been lost. It all comes down to the precise circumstances of the error. Basically, if it is felt that the customer should have been aware that something was not quite right, the bank would be absolutely within its rights to have you correct the error.

This is similar to what happens when, occasionally, money is lodged to the wrong account in a branch. The bank is allowed reclaim this money later even if it has been spent because the customer who benefited initially should have known it was not their money.

However, if you as the customer can show that you concluded the contract - completed the paperwork and signed - without any reason to suspect anything was amiss, the ombudsman may well decide that you should be reimbursed by the bank to the tune of the £260.82. The fact that you chose to pay the money initially in order to keep your affairs within the US in order should not count against you.

SSIAs

I have some sterling savings and want to keep them in that currency. Can I have a sterling-denominated SSIA?

Mr F.C., e-mail

The simple answer is that you can if you can find an institution that will allow you to open one. As of now, the Irish Bankers' Federation cannot identify any institution that is offering such a product.

The problem is that while you might want to make your contributions in sterling, you would have to calculate each month how much you would need to lodge to stay within the guidelines - between £10 and £200 in Irish currency - because the exchange rate between the currencies will obviously fluctuate.

This will continue to be so even after the introduction of the euro because sterling will remain outside the Pale.

A further problem is that the Government will make its contribution to the account in local currency, so you will be facing currency exchange charges on the account one way or the other. You may also find yourself paying higher administration charges. All in all, it seems unlikely that you will find a special savings incentive account to cover your situation, even though there is nothing specific in the rules disallowing it.

Buying Elan

When I contacted my local bank as usual to buy some Elan shares as I had done before, I was told that Elan were hard to buy and sell on the ISEQ. I wondered how this is as I understand Elan is about 20 per cent of the ISEQ.

Mr M.G., e-mail

You're quite right when you say Elan comprises a large portion of the Irish Stock Exchange quotation, but that is not the same as saying it dominates market trading here. At present, Elan's weight in the market is in fact closer to 25 per cent of the ISEQ, but this is largely due to a settling exercise in relation to trade carried out in the United State.

When it first set up, Elan found it hard to attract Irish investors, particularly institutional investors - hard as it may be to believe now, given the size to which it has grown and the way its every breath affects the Irish index. Elan's management was forced to look elsewhere for support for the fledgling pharmaceuticals company. Not surprisingly, it found such support in the United States, which has a far better track record in supporting enterprise.

As a result, most of Elan's stock is not in Irish hands and rarely trades through the Dublin market, although Dublin is still where the company has its listing, along with New York. In order to stop those rare Dublin trades totally distorting the Irish market - given the size of the company's market cap - the exchange adjusts the Elan price on a daily basis to take into account trade in New York. For your purposes, it would appear your best chance of readily acquiring Elan shares would be through a broker dealing with the US markets.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.