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The chief executives of the main banks here are to meet representatives of the Central Bank today to discuss plans for the departure of Ulster Bank and KBC from the market.

The regulator summoned the remaining banks to a meeting in recent weeks as it called publicly on them to do more to facilitate hundreds of thousands of customers who will have to move their accounts.

It is estimated that around a million accounts will be looking for new homes including current accounts, savings accounts and business accounts.

That amounts to tens of millions of transactions that will have to be facilitated including direct debits, standing orders and payroll movements.

The roundtable with bank chief executives will focus on work by the banks to ensure consumers’ best interests are protected.

The Central Bank called on the remaining banks in the market to put in place sufficient plans, preparations and resources to respond to what it referred to as an unprecedented volume of account migration.

“I acknowledge the unprecedented scale involved, and also acknowledge that staff within the banks are working extremely hard in challenging circumstances to provide customers with the services they require,” Derville Rowland, Director of Financial Conduct at the Central Bank, said at the time.

“We are keenly aware of the impact on both staff and customers in that regard,” she said,

“But while recognising the challenge an exercise of this scale represents, it is also clear that, in terms of the banks’ overall plans, more needs to be done,” she added.

The two departing banks will give customers six months notice to transfer their accounts from the time they receive correspondence from the banks.

Article Source – Bank CEOs to meet Central Bank on account transfers – RTE

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