Written answers

Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Photo of Fergus O'DowdFergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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287. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the announcement by a bank (details supplied) that it will close 103 branches including a significant number of rural branches, such as the Dunleer branch in County Louth; his plans to encourage the bank to defer closures until such time that the country is exiting the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure persons in more isolated areas have banking supports to hand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13062/21]

Photo of Michael LowryMichael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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308. To ask the Minister for Finance the engagement that has taken place with his Department and officials in the Central Bank following the decision of a bank (details supplied) to close 88 branches in Ireland; if he or the Central Bank officials plan to meet with senior management of the bank to discuss these closures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13519/21]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 287 and 308 together.

As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister for Finance, I have no role in the commercial decisions made by any bank in the State. This includes banks in which the State has a shareholding.

Decisions in this regard, including the management of branch networks, are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks, which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. The independence of banks in which the State has a shareholding is protected by Relationship Frameworks which are legally binding documents that cannot be changed unilaterally. These frameworks, which are publicly available, were insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market. The Bank of Ireland Relationship Framework can be found at the following link:

BOI:

Notwithstanding this, Bank of Ireland provided me with a briefing in advance which was consistent with its announcement on the matter on 1 March.

Some of the key points contained in the announcement are:

- The decision to close these branches is in response to changing customer behaviour with a significant acceleration in digital banking.

- The branches closing are predominately self-service locations which do not offer a counter service.

- To preserve local access to physical banking for those who want it, the bank has agreed a new partnership with An Post which will allow personal and business customers use their local post office for a range of banking services – including to withdraw cash and make cash and cheque lodgements – at no additional cost. The closing Bank of Ireland branches all have a post office within, on average, less than 500 meters.

- The bank confirmed that the new partnership with An Post will be available to all Bank of Ireland customers before any branch closes.

- Furthermore, the bank stated that there will be no closures for six months.

On staff, the bank commented that it will be working closely with all colleagues at these branches and will be setting out a range of options which include relocating to a different branch, moving to a new role in the bank, or voluntary redundancy for those who choose it.

The full Bank of Ireland announcement on the matter can be found at the following link:

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