The (
Irish Banc na hÉireann) , officially known as the '''Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland''' is a commercial
Bank operation in
Ireland , which is one of the '
Big Four ' in both parts of the island. The bank was formed by an Act of the
Irish Parliament in
1782 to support public and commercial finances in Ireland. The headquarters of the bank until the 1970s was the impressive,
Bank Of Ireland Building in
Dublin . This building hosted the Irish Parliament before the
Act Of Union 1800 . Today visitors can still view the impressive
Irish House Of Lords chamber within the building. The banks headquarters is now a modern building in Baggot Street, Dublin, but the Bank of Ireland in College Green remains a working branch.
In 1958, the Bank took over the Hibernian Bank Limited and in 1965 the National Bank of Ireland Limited, and rebranded them as Bank of Ireland.
Today the bank is based throughout the Republic of Ireland and the
United Kingdom , it offers the
Laser payment system. In
Northern Ireland , the bank prints its own banknotes in
Pounds Sterling . In
Great Britain , the bank expanded largely through the takeover of the Bristol and West Building Society in 1996. It also provides financial services for the
Post Office throughout the UK.
From the foundation of the
Irish Free State until
December 31 1971 , the Bank of Ireland was the banker of the
Irish Government , but not the
Central Bank . The central bank was only formed twenty years after the
Irish Free State and is called the
Central Bank Of Ireland . In 1956 the Bank was authorised to operate the
Prize Bond scheme, and continued to do so until 1989.
On 20 March
2005 , Bank of Ireland announced 2,000 job cuts in a move to reduce its cost base.
The Group's headquarters are in
Dublin , and its operations extend geographically throughout
Ireland and Britain.
The Group provides a broad range of financial services in Ireland to the personal, commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors. These include checking and deposit services, overdrafts, term loans, mortgages, international asset financing, leasing, instalment credit, debt financing, foreign exchange facilities, interest and exchange rate hedging instruments, executor, trustee,
Stockbroking ,
Life Assurance and investment fund management, fund administration and custodial services and financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions and underwriting. With the acquisition of New Ireland Assurance in December 1997 the Group has access to additional distribution channels and products for its life assurance and pensions business. The group provides services in multiple currencies, but primarily in the
Euro .
The Bank operates telephone and online banking services for its customers under the name ''365 phone'' and ''365 online'' respectively. The telephone banking service was launched in 1996 and was formerly known as ''Banking 365''. The online banking service followed in 1997 and was initially known as ''Banking 365 online''.
The Group markets and sells its products on a domestic basis through the most extensive nationwide distribution network in Ireland and its direct telephone banking service. The Group has built a market share among credit institutions in Ireland of over 20% of resources and loans outstanding.
In the United Kingdom the Group has an arrangement with the
Post Office for whom they provide the majority of the available banking services such as credit cards and loans.
They formerly operated through
Bristol & West Plc which was acquired in July 1997, and the Group's retail branch network. Bristol & West operates in selected markets and provides mortgages, savings and investments products to customers. On the
21 September 2005 the retail and contact centre network was sold to
Britannia Building Society . The Bank has still retained the right to use the Bristol & West name to sell Mortgages.
Operations in the rest of the world are primarily undertaken by Bank of Ireland Asset Management who provide fund management services to institutions and pension funds in
Germany ,
Australia ,
Canada ,
Japan and the
United States .
''List currently only covers from 1995 onwards, and is'' ''complete''
- 1995
- --- with Royal Bank Of Scotland 's Citizens Financial Group
- 1996
- --- building society for €882m, which keeps its own brand.
- 1999
- --- is in merger talks with the Bank of Ireland.
- --- 17 June : It is announced that merger talks with Alliance & Leicester have been called off.
- 2000
- ---.
- 2002
- ---, the US investment manager, which doubles the size of its asset management business.
- 2005
- --- 21 September : Bank of Ireland completes the sale of the Bristol and West branch and Direct Savings (Contact Centre) to Britannia Building Society. This is the first re - mutualisation of a former Mutal company. Britannia promises that there will be no compusory redundencies.
