Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 July 2013
18. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress to date on protecting employment of staff working on the UK loan book at a company (details supplied) in County Roscommon; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33279/13]
View answerThe process regarding the sale of Bank of America’s (BOA's) UK credit card businesses is ongoing. The former MBNA Credit Card Processing facility in Carrick-on-Shannon now comprises two operations. The first, following the purchase of part of BOA's Credit Card portfolio by Apollo, is a new operation called AvantCard, which employs approximately 250 staff which transferred from BOA to AvantCard (Apollo) under TUPE regulations on 13 March 2013. The second operation remains in the ownership of BOA and employs approximately 200 people.
Apollo has acquired the entire building in Carrick and has leased back office space to BOA. BOA continues to look for a buyer for the remainder of the UK Credit Card book but no suitable buyer has been found to date. IDA Ireland remains in contact both locally and at corporate level with both BOA and Apollo/AvantCard to monitor progress and provide assistance, as appropriate, with respect to reconfiguring the Carrick facility. IDA continues to highlight the strengths of the Carrick site to a broad range of potential investors and hope that a satisfactory outcome can be reached soon.
