Bank of Ireland need to respond to customer sentiment and reconsider its position on branch closure

BOI should use Oireachtas committee appearance to answer five key questions.

The Financial Services Union has called on Bank of Ireland to reconsider its position on branch closures and to provide clarity on what it terms “unanswered questions” when it appears before the Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach Oireachtas committee.

Bank of Ireland announced its plans to close 88 branches in the Republic of Ireland and 15 branches in Northern Ireland in February.

John O’Connell, General Secretary of the FSU commented:

“When the FSU last appeared before the Finance Committee, we asked that Bank of Ireland would be requested to appear before the Oireachtas committee to answer questions about the Banks commitment to customer service and to its branch network. Since then, BOI have announced a closure of a third of its network and its withdrawal from many communities in Ireland.

The FSU would like to see clarity provided by the Bank to five key questions.

1. Have the Bank conducted an impact assessment on local communities of the proposed branch closures and has the Bank any plans to engage with local communities on the planned closures.
2. How has the Bank considered the possible closure of 200 post offices in its plans to provide services to communities where they are closing the local branch?
3. How many ATMS has the Bank sold in the last year and can it confirm that it has no plans to remove ATMS from areas where they are closing local branches or sell off the ATMS to private companies.
4. To ask the Bank to outline its strategy on closing the gender pay gap and if it plans to work with the trade union movement to agree an action plan in this regard.
5. To ask the Bank to confirm that it has replaced permanent staff who availed of voluntary redundancy with temporary staff.

The FSU welcome the Banks commitment to taking part in a structured debate on the future of the Banking sector. It is something the FSU have advocated on and which we recently produced a discussion document outlining the challenges and opportunities that face the sector. We would call on Bank of Ireland to reconsider its proposal to close branches until that debate happens.

There are many unanswered questions that the Bank needs to answer, Communities and staff deserve and expect that clarity will be brought to these and all questions when the Bank appears before the Oireachtas committee.

ENDS Contact: Brian McDowell, Head of Communications and Public Affairs, FSU. Tel: 087-9161225. Email: brian.mcdowell@fsunion.org.

About FSU: The FSU is Ireland’s leading union across banking and finance. We represent thousands of staff across the main retail banks, and we have members in more than 70 companies across the finance and fintech sectors. Our members are spread across the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain. We are headquartered in Dublin and we also have a presence in Belfast. We are members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and UNI Global finance union.