Political interference in Commercial banking decisions

[tonymac]

I see the cold decision of AIB to end cash banking in 70 branches has thankfully been reversed. This was purely a cold commercial decision without any consideration given towards businesses, local communities all over Ireland who would have been left without services or elderly people who only know in house banking. For me the government did get involved in getting this reversed which i agree with but i do recall a time when the government said they couldnt get involved in banks commercial decisions when those same banks were screwing mortgage holders by upping the standard variable rates, SVRs when the ECB were lowering theirs and aiming to deny as many people their contractual rights to tracker mortgage rates as they were obviously found out

 

[Purple]

The reaction seems overly emotional. On the one hand the Central Bank is telling AIB that they are inefficient and have to reduce costs and on the other they are telling them to keep branches open and to provide appropriate levels of service. Which do they want?
The Post Offices can fill the gap for cash transactions but there's another conversation around how that will work in practice.

 

[odyssey06]

What is the point of AIB spending money sponsoring the GAA if they were considering this proposal which would generate bad publicity multiple times over again far outweighing any positives of it.

 

[Peanuts20]

it wasn't just over the counter services that were being done away with. Things like night safes were also going to go. In effect, if you were a retail or any other business in some of those towns and who dealt in case, with only AIB as a bank, you were screwed in terms of cash handling. I get AIB aren't and shouldn't be a charity but they're still largely owned by the state . Whole thing struck me as Dublin centric thinking

 

[cremeegg]

What clown in AIB decided to announce 70 closures in one day.

People go to college and study marketing, and PR. AIB can presumably afford to employ people with some level of competence in these areas. And they announce 70 closures in one day, uniting 70 communities and their elected representatives against them.

Is the cap on bankers pay still in effect. What ever AIB pay they are not exactly attracting the best.

 

[Leo]

Didn't BOI have to backtrack on a similar approach a few years ago? They've since closed all those branches. I assume AIB will just do likewise in time.

 

[Leo]

People go to college and study marketing, and PR. AIB can presumably afford to employ people with some level of competence in these areas. And they announce 70 closures in one day, uniting 70 communities and their elected representatives against them.

Perhaps, but if AIB is now the only bank with a branch in town, how many people are walking into AIB this morning looking to close their accounts?

 

[Purple]

Didn't BOI have to backtrack on a similar approach a few years ago? They've since closed all those branches. I assume AIB will just do likewise in time.

I went into BOI in Rathfarnham shopping centre on Friday to withdraw cash and they only had an ATM with a limit of €700 a day. I had to go to Terenure, where they still have cash services. It's the first time on 30 years I've been in the Rathfarnham branch as it's closed when most people are off work and it's the first time I've ever been in the Terenure Branch.

 

[NoRegretsCoyote]

it wasn't just over the counter services that were being done away with. Things like night safes were also going to go.

I don't think that retail customers have much need for cash bank branches any more unless they are doing old-fashioned stuff like wanting to be paid by cheque.

OTOH I agree many retail businesses still generate a lot of cash and there are big security and other headaches associated with storage and transport.

 

[Peanuts20]

Every retailer takes cash and after the fiasco in the Aviva last weekend it's going to be a long time before any retailer goes completely digital

75000 cheques processed daily by Irish banks in the first 3 months of the year, they tend to be for higher values as well

 

[Purple]

75000 cheques processed daily by Irish banks in the first 3 months of the year, they tend to be for higher values as well

Wow. Do you know if they are payroll cheques or over the counter payments by cheque? I suspect that most are the former.

 

[Peanuts20]

Wow. Do you know if they are payroll cheques or over the counter payments by cheque? I suspect that most are the former.

Bulk are business to business. Very few payroll cheques these days. HSE are a big issuer.

From a business perspective, it's a very handy way of protecting cash flow given it will take a few days longer to clear then an electronic payment

 

[Purple]

Bulk are business to business. Very few payroll cheques these days.

Okay.

HSE are a big issuer.

Why does that not surprise me.

From a business perspective, it's a very handy way of protecting cash flow given it will take a few days longer to clear then an electronic payment

Yea, but cheques are much more labour intensive. We stopped using them in work ages ago. If your business is so strapped for cash that a few days worth of cashflow is critical then there are bigger problems. I haven't written a personal cheque in years.