BCP Stockbrokers is open to new clients again having been given clearance by the Central Bank.

The stockbroker, which was prohibited from taking on new clients in April, has boosted its back office and according to the Central Bank is able to cope with increased volumes of business.

It is refocusing the business to concentrate on investment in US stocks. BCP chief executive Mr Martin Kane said more than half the firm's business was now in US shares and American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

The dealing room is now open the same hours as the US markets or until 9 p.m. in the evening as well as on Irish and UK bank holidays. Clients should be able to deal in real time. The company will launch an online service by the end of the year.

According to Mr Kane, the instruction from the Central Bank to stop taking on new business, followed a period of exceptional growth in private clients for all stockbroking firms. In the first four months of the year BCP took on more new clients than in the whole of 1999.

That declined after the Nasdaq correction in April and was only now picking up as investors' came to believe a stockmarket crash was not imminent.

Mr Kane said the labour shortage - particularly for people with the technical skills needed in a stockbrocking operation - meant it took a while for the firm to gear up for the level of new clients. As a result many found it difficult to contact the broker to execute their deals.

The additional strains on stockbrokers worried the Central Bank and it now requires brokers to make weekly returns of turnover and debtor and creditor balances as well as the cost of supporting unpaid creditor balances.