https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/ulster-bank-set-to-exit-irish-market-after-more-than-160-years-1.4487912
The board of NatWest is set to decide on Thursday evening on a proposal to wind down Ulster Bank in the Republic after more than 160 years in the market, setting the stage for a likely break-up of the lender's €20.5 billion loan book, according to sources.
Won't be missed. Absolute stain of a bank. Pushed loans especially in Farming and Agriculture then sold them good loans along with a pile of shit from the construction industry to vulture funds. Caused unknown stress across the country. Was run by absolute morons.
It was a great bank in the 80s and 90s but went downhill fast in the 2000s after RBS took over.
Quote from: five points on February 18, 2021, 10:46:18 AM
It was a great bank in the 80s and 90s but went downhill fast in the 2000s after RBS took over.
Knowing a few people who worked there I think it was doing good work then.
However, we have a financial institution that spanned both parts of Ireland for 100 years of partition and which is being truncated at a time when all Ireland business is becoming more important. As the British government own it, then it is another kick in the teeth.
What's the position on savings if closed? A cheque posted out or will have to withdraw the money before it closes.
Quote from: Cunny Funt on February 18, 2021, 08:34:50 PM
What's the position on savings if closed? A cheque posted out or will have to withdraw the money before it closes.
I'm sure everyone will have advance notice and time to switch to another bank.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23527615 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23527615)
Turns out the 26 Co Ulster Bank were bolloxed due to tracker mortgages from back in the Celtic tiger days. See above.
What happens outstanding personal loans?
Quote from: WT4E on February 19, 2021, 10:46:39 AM
What happens outstanding personal loans?
I'd say they'll be sold off to someone else.
Ah here's me thinking they might let me off! ;D
Quote from: five points on February 18, 2021, 10:46:18 AM
It was a great bank in the 80s and 90s but went downhill fast in the 2000s after RBS took over.
Henri the Hippo was the real brains of the operation, and when they got rid of him they were fecked
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/bank-of-ireland-to-close-103-branches-on-island-1.4497885Bank of Ireland to close 103 branches on island
Bank will publish full list of branches later on Monday; new arrangement with An Post to protect local services
Joe Brennan
Bank of Ireland confirmed on Monday it is closing 103 branches on the island of Ireland, reducing its network in the Republic by about a third and its locations in the North by more than half, as Covid-19 has accelerated a shift in the industry towards digital banking.
The bank, which stands out among Irish banks as not having carried out a large cull on locations in the wake of the financial crash, said that it will be publishing the full list of branches later in the morning, once staff have been informed.
Bank of Ireland, led by chief executive Francesca McDonagh, reported an underlying loss of €374 million for 2020, after setting aside €1.1 billion of provisions for an expected surge in losses resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, the charge was at the lower end of the € 1.1 billion to € 1.3 billion range it had predicted in the middle of 2020, and the bank forecast that its provisions for this year will be "materially lower".
"For many years, the trend to digital banking has been evident, with customers using branches less and less. Covid-19 has accelerated this changing behaviour, and we've seen a seismic shift towards digital banking over the past 12 months," Ms McDonagh said.
"We've now reached a tipping point in customer preferences between online and offline banking. That's why we've also announced changes to our branch network in Ireland and Northern Ireland today, while protecting access to local banking services though a new arrangement with An Post. "
Bank of Ireland announced in August that it was seeking to eliminate the equivalent of 1,400 full-time jobs - or 13.5 per cent of its workforce - in the coming years. It confirmed in November that 1,450 roles will be cut by the end of 2021 - with a total of 1,700 full- and part-time staff taking up a voluntary-redundancy offer. The programme has cost €189 million, within a €250 million restructuring budget set in 2018 and will cut its annual staff bill by €114 million when completed.
The BOI branches to close in Northern Ireland are: Ballymena, Banbridge, Belfast (Lisburn Road), Belfast (Ormeau Road), Belfast (University Road), Crossmaglen, Derry (Strand Road), Downpatrick, Dungannon, Keady, Limavady, Lisburn, Lisnakea, Portadown, Strabane.
Quote from: armaghniac on March 01, 2021, 11:27:46 AM
The BOI branches to close in Northern Ireland are: Ballymena, Banbridge, Belfast (Lisburn Road), Belfast (Ormeau Road), Belfast (University Road), Crossmaglen, Derry (Strand Road), Downpatrick, Dungannon, Keady, Limavady, Lisburn, Lisnakea, Portadown, Strabane.
They're all big towns. But the drift is away from in person banking. I'm never in the bank myself, everything is centralised. The days of the Bank Manager knowing everyone in the town and being able to vouch for loans etc is long long gone. It's disappointing for those who will lose their jobs but it is to be expected and more and more Banks will follow suit and continue to close branches.
It's nothing new but still a real shame. Where are elderly people in rural communities meant to go? I know the banks claim it's because of lower footfall but this is because banks have been forcing their customers to use online banking for almost a decade.
Quote from: general_lee on March 01, 2021, 12:13:42 PM
It's nothing new but still a real shame. Where are elderly people in rural communities meant to go? I know the banks claim it's because of lower footfall but this is because banks have been forcing their customers to use online banking for almost a decade.
Genuinely why do elderly or indeed any personal customers go into a bank on a regular basis? Like weekly or fortnightly.
Quote from: trailer on March 01, 2021, 12:43:45 PM
Quote from: general_lee on March 01, 2021, 12:13:42 PM
It's nothing new but still a real shame. Where are elderly people in rural communities meant to go? I know the banks claim it's because of lower footfall but this is because banks have been forcing their customers to use online banking for almost a decade.
Genuinely why do elderly or indeed any personal customers go into a bank on a regular basis? Like weekly or fortnightly.
I've often wondered the same.
The people these closures would most affect are small traders in largely cash businesses - pubs, chippies, restaurants, bookies, corner shops - who need to make regular deposits for both insurance and paying creditors, and have a retailer need for change.
Quote from: thewobbler on March 01, 2021, 12:55:15 PM
Quote from: trailer on March 01, 2021, 12:43:45 PM
Quote from: general_lee on March 01, 2021, 12:13:42 PM
It's nothing new but still a real shame. Where are elderly people in rural communities meant to go? I know the banks claim it's because of lower footfall but this is because banks have been forcing their customers to use online banking for almost a decade.
Genuinely why do elderly or indeed any personal customers go into a bank on a regular basis? Like weekly or fortnightly.
I've often wondered the same.
The people these closures would most affect are small traders in largely cash businesses - pubs, chippies, restaurants, bookies, corner shops - who need to make regular deposits for both insurance and paying creditors, and have a retailer need for change.
And even those businesses will see a drop in the amount of cash they handle with the pandemic. I tap nearly everything nowadays. But it will effect them for sure. But personal customers? Why do they need to go in a branch? With the PO now you can do most transactions there anyway.
I worked in branch for a few years in my younger days and it really is a generational thing. Elderly/older people think of money as tangible and that a bank is storing their money for them.
We used to have an elderly lady who thought we literally held all her money in the branch and one of the girls used to shake a money box at her saying "It's all still here". They had a strange relationship with passbooks as well and a belief that if they lost the passbook they lost their money.
They find it hard to trust that it all exists digitally and that their debit card is where all the money is at they have a comfort in thinking that the bank is storing it all for them.
Of course I'm generalising a lot here but that was my experience anyways.
My parents are like that. This pandemic has done one thing I never thought I would see - make my da use a card.
Quote from: screenexile on March 01, 2021, 01:01:21 PM
I worked in branch for a few years in my younger days and it really is a generational thing. Elderly/older people think of money as tangible and that a bank is storing their money for them.
We used to have an elderly lady who thought we literally held all her money in the branch and one of the girls used to shake a money box at her saying "It's all still here". They had a strange relationship with passbooks as well and a belief that if they lost the passbook they lost their money.
They find it hard to trust that it all exists digitally and that their debit card is where all the money is at they have a comfort in thinking that the bank is storing it all for them.
Of course I'm generalising a lot here but that was my experience anyways.
This isn't a suitable reason to maintain a loss making service though.
In my experience even the most technically illiterate and unwilling of older people can successfully book flights from anywhere to anywhere, and not fall for the legion of add-on traps the airlines employ. None of same people yearn for a day where they'd spend an hour querying in a travel agency to then find out that the only available flights are twice as expensive as they thought they'd be.
Same will apply to online banking. Unless you run a cash business it's a truly remarkable improvement on traditional banking.
Online banking has its limitations!
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/citibank-just-got-a-500-million-lesson-in-the-importance-of-ui-design/
Quote from: armaghniac on March 01, 2021, 01:46:48 PM
Online banking has its limitations!
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/citibank-just-got-a-500-million-lesson-in-the-importance-of-ui-design/
I remember one of the lads tills was £700 short on a particular day... we searched for an hour after work and most of the next day before we had to write it off as a counting error.
3 months later when the fella had left this elderly woman landed with her passbook which had noted a £700 withdrawal 3 months previous which hadn't been entered into the system. Your man had given her the cash/filled out her passbook but forgot to enter it on the computer!!
It surprised me how much human error there is in banking and was my first real eye opener that the institutions you expect to be infallible are anything but!
Quote from: armaghniac on March 01, 2021, 01:46:48 PM
Online banking has its limitations!
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/citibank-just-got-a-500-million-lesson-in-the-importance-of-ui-design/
Hardly the same thing - this is institutional banking and I would assume not online. There was 3 levels of authorisation on this transaction and all levels missed the mistake as it appears none of them understood what they authorised.
I would say the Post Office is more important for elderly people & their banking than a bank
Quote from: thewobbler on March 01, 2021, 01:33:24 PM
This isn't a suitable reason to maintain a loss making service though.
In my experience even the most technically illiterate and unwilling of older people can successfully book flights from anywhere to anywhere, and not fall for the legion of add-on traps the airlines employ. None of same people yearn for a day where they'd spend an hour querying in a travel agency to then find out that the only available flights are twice as expensive as they thought they'd be.
Same will apply to online banking. Unless you run a cash business it's a truly remarkable improvement on traditional banking.
Very true. Whatever about internet banking, most people have been using the internet for one thing or another for the guts of 20 years now. Everyone old enough has been using ATMs and credit cards since at least the 1990s. They all seem to get by OK, and they will get by fine without bank branches too.
Have an account with Ulster Bank ROI which is going to close and I need to switch to another bank
Anyone familiar with EBS?
Was thinking of switching to their Money Manager account which doesn't have a monthly or quarterly maintenance fee and no minimum deposit amount
Just moved to them. I was with KBC and their app was great. It works fine but has no app. You login via a website. You have an authentication app on your phone. No hassle whatsoever so far. I manually changed all direct debits.