Ulster Bank’s decision to exit the Irish market seems to have impacted some farmer’s efforts to transfer their business and personal banking accounts. The Irish Farmer’s Association (IFA) has subsequently highlighted the matter, drawing attention to ongoing difficulties with the country’s main banks. The IFA plans to raise the issue with the Central Bank.
Rose Mary McDonagh, the IFA national farm business chair said Ulster Bank’s departure was creating serious problems for many farmers. This centres around the difficulties in transferring accounts. As such, the IFA hope to meet with Ulster Bank later this week to discuss the phased exit of the bank from the Irish market.
McDonagh explained that, “Anecdotally, we’ve heard of cases where existing Ulster Bank customers are waiting literally months for an initial meeting with a new financial provider to set up a current account facility with them. Others are encountering obstacles in opening business accounts and overdrafts, even though personal accounts are held with the new bank provider.”
Another problem that doesn’t sit well with all farmers is the push by the banks to do all the necessary paper work online.
In response to the banking issue McDonagh said: “We will be engaging with the Central Bank to ensure this issue is closely monitored. We cannot have a situation where farmers have no functional business current account/overdraft to maintain on-farm operations.”