Bank of Ireland informed this morning, that it plans to close 88 branches in Ireland and 15 in Northern Ireland. Total branches of bank in Ireland will reduce to 169 and 13 in Northern Ireland
The locations for these closures are set to be announced later today. In a statement this morning, the bank informed that with the closures set to begin from September. The bank said that, a tipping point between online and offline banking has reached and it resulted in the decision
“The branches closing are predominately self-service locations which do not offer a counter service,” the bank said. A new partnership with An Post will offer customers access to a range of banking services at over 900 locations, and that includes withdrawing cash and making cash and cheque. At locations where there is no alternative ATM available, Bank of Ireland will maintain an ATM.
Bank of Ireland have plans to invest €12 million in a re-sized branch network by the end of 2022.
CEO Francesca McDonagh stated “Technology is evolving, and customers are using branches less, year on year on year. Covid-19 has accelerated this changing behavior, and we’ve seen a seismic shift towards digital banking over the past 12 months”.