Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 September 2022
123. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Finance the discussions he and his Department have had with the Central Bank in relation to the difficulties that have arisen for some customers of banks (details supplied) in opening new accounts with other financial institutions. [46295/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am in regular contact with the Central Bank of Ireland on a range of matters and my officials also meet regularly with the Central Bank to discuss the withdrawal of Ulster Bank and KBC from the Irish market.
The decisions of Ulster Bank and KBC to leave the Irish market are regrettable and my focus is on ensuring an orderly withdrawal and minimising the disruption to impacted consumers.
The Central Bank, as regulator, has been clear that it expects all retail banks, both those exiting the market and those remaining, to have plans in place to manage the impact of the broader changes and consolidation in the retail banking sector in Ireland.
As part of the Central Bank's supervisory engagement, it has met with the CEOs of the five main retail banks a number of times over the summer in relation to the large scale migration of customer accounts and outlined the need for better planning, customer focused arrangements, proactive communications and system wide engagement.
On 9 September 2022, the Central Bank released statistics on account migration, which indicate that 24% of the current and deposit accounts that were open at the beginning of the year in Ulster Bank and KBC Bank had been closed by end-August 2022. While the numbers are encouraging, I concur with the Central Bank, that the focus must continue to be on ensuring adequate resources and training are in place to ensure a positive customer experience when switching their accounts from KBC and Ulster Bank.
It is the responsibility of the individual banks to ensure that they are putting their customers first, ensuring fair treatment of customers and that customers understand what the changes mean for them.
In this regard, I want to welcome the round table discussion with direct debit originators and their regulatory authorities, hosted by the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) yesterday, as well as Bank of Ireland's recent announcement that it will open 61 of its branches on the first four Saturdays in October to provide information on moving accounts and to support customers in the account opening process.
My officials and I will continue to monitor the migration of current accounts from the exiting banks and engage with relevant stakeholders, including the Central Bank, to ensure that impacted customers face the least amount of disruption in migrating their accounts over the coming months.
