AIB to close Kilkee and Kildysart branches

THE AIB branches in Kildysart and Kilkee are to close. Last Friday, AIB announced that “as part of the wider cost-reduction programme and integration of branch and direct channels, AIB is in the process of restructuring its physical network.

 

This comprehensive review identified that population changes, changing customer banking usage and improvements in technology, have led to a fall in demand for traditional branch services.”

Forty-five sub-office closures and six branch amalgamations will take place from October across the country. There will also be a further 16 branch closures in 2013.

Many of the locations being closed operate on reduced days and hours and typically carry out on average 20% of the transaction volumes of other AIB branches.

“These closures will not result in any compulsory job losses at AIB, as staff will be facilitated with employment in other branch locations,” AIB said in their statement.

The Kildysart branch was open three days a week on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. “What they were telling me was business has gone down quite a lot in the bank over the last two years and 12 months especially.

“An awful lot of people are using online services now and what they were saying was only about one in 10 customers were using the bank,” Kildysart county councillor Oliver Garry said.

“I’m very disappointed that they are closing it because it’s a rural bank and the population is low there. It’s more the elderly people that use it and business people in the village.

“Just because it’s rural, it’s hit first, like post offices and garda stations. Kilkee probably has the same perspective but the only thing is there’s another bank in Kilkee,” he added.

However, he said an ATM may be installed in the village, while an AIB mobile bank will visit Kildysart once a week.

“I dealt with the Munster and Leinster Bank in Kildysart before the amalgamation. The bank was actually closed back in the 1960s. They closed it and sold it for three years. But they opened it again then, having bought it back,” Councillor Garry noted.

Meanwhile, Kilkee Chamber of Commerce spokesperson, Paul Williams, expressed disappointment that the O’Curry Street, Kilkee branch is set to close.

“It’s extremely disappointing that it is closing down. It’s an important service for every business in Kilkee to have a choice of banks.

“Although, I have to say, it was well flagged in advance. The rumours were that this was going to happen. But, at the same time, it’s disappointing that it has happened,” Mr Williams said.
AIB will launch four mobile banks, which will cover 31 rural locations in eight counties.

AIB Mobile Banks will visit eight new locations throughout rural areas and offer services such as cash, coin and cheque lodgements, cash withdrawals, bill payment and a foreign exchange order and collection service.