Following the announcement by KBC that it intends to exit the Irish market, farmers have complained about the lack of competition in the banking sector.
Ulster Bank made a similar decision to withdraw in February. Now the ICSMA has called on the Government to investigate why Ireland seems unable to attract new banks to the market.
Pat McCormack, President of the ICMA, said despite Irish farming being one of the most sustainable and technically advanced in the world farmers are still effectively confined to a choice between two banks.
“Our counterparts in the other EU Member States would have multiples of that,” he said. “Our situation means higher charges, higher interest rates, more onerous loan conditions, less flexibility, all because there’s no competition.”
Mr McCormack said the question farmers, business and private individuals need to be answered is: “Why every new bank that comes into the Irish market seems to arrive at the same conclusion after a couple of years and leaves.”
“What’s going on here and when are we going to see a serious examination as to why none of these foreign banks want to continue offering retail banking here?”
LSL News.