NIB: Here for the long haul

National Irish Bank (NIB) is leaving its ATM facility in Virginia and the bank is likely to instal an ATM in Shercock to cater for the immediate cash needs of customers. This was revealed by senior executives of the bank when interviewed by The Anglo-Celt during their visit to Cavan last Friday. Kevin Gallen, deputy chief executive of National Irish Bank, stressed NIB's commitment to Cavan when he indicated that it was the bank's ambition to accommodate all of its Co. Cavan customers in the current restructuring of the bank. NIB recently announced a major restructuring programme of its operations in the Republic, which will see staff reductions of 150 and the downsizing of its branch network by 25. Four NIB branches in Co. Cavan are earmarked for closure: Virginia, Bailieboro, Kingscourt and Shercock. The National Irish Bank network was previously part of Northern Bank and the branches in question are long established within the East Cavan communities in question. There has been considerable local opposition to the proposed bank closures in those areas. Mr. Gallen stated that the new Cavan branch (opened in 2007) will be the flagship facility in Co. Cavan. Other channels of banking in the 21st century are also being employed for the ease of customers in the transacting of their business such as Internet and telephone banking and electronic banking such as laser and ATM. In cases, in which businesses have particular cash requirements, the bank is prepared to meet those customers and work out arrangements for them. National Irish Bank is owned by Danish bank, Danske, one of the largest banks in Europe and both Mr. Gallen and Mr. Brendan O'Hora, (NIB's head of business development and communications), were adamant as to Danske's commitment to Ireland and stressed the importance of being part of such a strong bank in terms of achieving economic recovery in Ireland. In recognition of NIB's appreciation of its customer base in Co. Cavan, Mr. O'Hora revealed that the bank has had meetings with representatives from Cavan County Council and with local community groups including the Virginia Development Association. Following representations from the development association, the bank is considering the deferral of the Virginia branch closure to the back end of the year, he revealed. According to the NIB executives, the landscape of banking in Ireland has changed dramatically in recent times with further change likely such as the real possibility of a number of mutuals coming together to form another banking group. "We are in a different place and in order for us to survive as a business in Ireland we have had to make some difficult decisions, which has impacted on staff in terms of redundancies; impacted on customers and on local communities. It is important that we make those decisions and reposition the bank for the future," said Mr. Gallen. "Looking at the economic backdrop we are in a very severe recession, the banking sector has been in crisis and remains in crisis. There will be a recovery but it is going to be a very different sector," stated the NIB deputy chief executive. It was put to Mr. Gallen that Danske, being one of leading banks, should be able to retain untouched its existing branch network in Ireland. Mr. Gallen responded that the bank must have a viable business here in this country. "That is why we are making these changes - but it is also very reassuring that we are part of such a strong European bank," he said. He spoke respectfully of NIB's customers in Cavan many of whom ran successful businesses, which were export focused. It was such businesses who would bring the Irish economy into the future, Mr. Gallen said. Acknowledging that the issue of cash availability was raised at a number of meetings, the NIB executive said that from the bank's own analysis, only a small percentage of customers went into a branch to withdraw cash. "We feel that there are now better ways of doing business by other channels such as Internet banking in which our bank are a market leader. Of course customers will always have access to cash - they can use ATM or the laser method at retail outlets. Business customers do have cash needs and we are committed to working with those customers," said Mr. Hora. He referred to the meetings, which bank executives had with Minister Brendan Smith, with the county council and community groups. Such discussions helped inform their decisions to retain the ATM in Virginia and to consider the provision of an ATM in Shercock. "We have had to make tough decisions across the country - we didn't particularly target Cavan. We did a robust evaluation of all of our branches throughout the entire country. We looked at the profitability and availability of the whole network and that threw up some tough decisions. The reason for making those decisions is to ensure that the bank is able to compete - they were absolutely necessary," he said.