Bank of Ireland to scale back on mortgage and loan offerings in the UK
Savings Branding Personal Ireland It Announced Bank File Of Picture: Aa Under Longer Will And Denis Provide That Unsecured The Minihane Loans Also No Products
Bank of Ireland has announced it is scaling back its operations in the UK by ending its partnership with the AA and no longer offering Post Office-branded mortgages or personal loans.
These moves marked a further shift away from the UK for the bank which it had seen as a key market for growth.
In a statement on Tuesday, the bank said that it would be extending its partnership with the UK Post Office through to 2032 but it will "focus on savings products and no longer provide Post Office-branded mortgages or personal loans”.
Bank of Ireland’s 50/50 joint venture with the UK Post Office, First Rate Exchange Services, is unaffected by this announcement.
The bank also announced that it will no longer provide unsecured personal loans and savings products under The AA branding.
“The Group has historically originated the vast majority of its UK unsecured personal loans through these partnerships,” Bank of Ireland said. “The Group has reduced this portfolio during 2023, with balances expected to be approximately €1.3bn at the end December 2023.”
According to the bank’s results for the first half of this year, profit in its UK retail arm fell to £117m (€136.5m) from £167m (€194.9m) during the same period in 2022. Overall, the entire Group posted over €1bn in pre-tax profit in that period up from €419m in 2022.
In addition, the former director of business banking at Bank of Ireland, John O’Beirne, has been unveiled as the new executive director for Europe of payments giant Square. Square is a finance and tech payments firm that provides hardware for processing card payments.
Mr O’Beirne said the company has “several projects” under way which will provide “growth opportunities” for sellers of all sizes across all their European markets.