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Post office closures may affect Irish bank
 By
Niamh Hennessy
BANK of Ireland’s daily banking operations were dealt a massive
blow last week with the announcement of the closure of thousands of post
offices across Britain.
Around 2,500 post offices in Britain are set to close by 2009 all of
which offer banking services to Bank of Ireland (BOI) customers.
According to the bank up to 950,000 people avail of their banking services
at post offices in Britain an increase of 50,000 on last year.
The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) said they will write to
Bank of Ireland to ask them what impact if any this move will have on
Bank of Ireland staff, branches and customers in Britain.
The increase in the use of the Post Office for BOI services is likely
due to the decision of the bank to close 10 of its 21 British-based branches
and merge them into its 11 key ‘hub’ outlets.
The bank did not say if the move would have a negative impact over time
on their services in Britain.
A BOI spokeswoman said: “Most of our business is generated in the
biggest and most profitable Post Office branches in Britain so this has
not impacted on us.”
British Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said that the current
Post Office network was unsustainable due to new technology and changing
lifestyle and that it was currently losing £4million per week.
Mr Darling announced that the government would invest £1.7billion
in order to support the network, including an annual subsidy of up to
£15million per year until 2011.
No decisions have been made on individual post offices and there are no
local quotas for closures.
A series of local consultations will be held in order to determine which
branches will close.
Another Irish company which could be affected by the closure of the post
offices is the Gift Voucher Shop who sell their products in post offices
around the country.
A spokesperson from the Gift Voucher Shop said they support the Post Office
in their decision and recognise that such a move is necessary for long-term
efficiency. |
