Bank of Ireland to close local branch
Monday 16th February 2009, 2:29PM GMT.
MORE local workers could lose their jobs after an announcement that the Bank of Ireland is closing its Guernsey branch.
The bank will shut its doors in Guernsey for the last time on Wednesday 11 March.
It has had a branch in Guernsey for more than 16 years.
As yet it remains unclear how many islanders may be facing redundancy because of its decision to consolidate local operations with the Isle of Man.
In a message to customers on its offshore website, the bank writes:‘Following a review of our operations we have decided for business reasons, with effect from close of business on 11 March 2009, to close our Guernsey office and consolidate all our activities in the Isle of Man.
‘Guernsey already operates as a branch office of the Bank of Ireland (IOM) Ltd and we are committed to ensuring that you will see very little change to your service and account operation.’
- The news could add to the rapidly increasing number of islanders who are currently out of work. Latest unemployment figures reached more than 400 this month.
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Some one said on BBC Guernsey this morning that people who moved their BOI accounts to IOM would lose the protection of the Guernsey depositors scheme.
What a stupid remark to make; of course they would but they would gain the same protection in IOM.
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In actual fact they would gain more protection as all deposits in Irish banks are fully guaranteed by the Irish Goverment, A full member of the E.U.
Which for Landsbanki Guernsey depositors Guernsey is not., as we well know to our cost.
SPRINGBOK
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Before any depositors move their accounts to the Isle of man they should check out the web site of the KSFIOM Depositors Action Group.
http://www.ksfiomdepositors.org/
In my opinion, no one in their right mind would transfer any funds into the Isle of Man right now.
Yes, they have a Depositors Compensation Scheme, but it has no funds in it, and if the IOM Government don’t step in and sort out the mess of the KSF affair they are going to have a lot more banks out of business as no one will have faith in their banking system.
PT – Angry/broke depositor fighting to get money out of KSFIOM.
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I should have mentioned in my previous post, that we also had funds on deposit in Guernsey but as soon as the deposits matured we moved them out, even though they were with a very reputable bank and the new Depositors Protection Scheme had come in. We have no faith in any offshore centres any longer. There are many other depositors who feel the same way and I am sure those working in the banking industry will have seen significant movements of deposits away from the islands.
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Any depositor with a Guernsey bank should be aware that the Guernsey scheme to “protect” depositors is called a compensation scheme rather than a protection scheme, and full deposit protection is still is not guaranteed. An Irish bank would seem a good option in current circumstances.
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Frank,
each to their own I guess. Worth considering however …. there are now talks that Ireland is expected to have a budget shortfall of 11% of GDP and likely to need bailing out by the EU (even though it is against the orriginal remit of the EU). Their credit rating is down.
Hmmmm I’d have alarm bells ringing personally even if they ‘say’ they have a protection scheme. Didn’t Iceland have to get bailed out ?
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The question here is what drove this bank to close down in Guernsey. And how many others will follow.
Guernsey’s reputation is shot to pieces and many foreign banks, who will be looking to cut costs (for obvious reasons), will close offices first in those places where reputational risk has been affected by recent events. Such a place is Guernsey.
My view is not so much if another bank will close down, but how many. The same applies for the large insurance companies who also have offshore offices elsewhere.
Our dear leaders, in the States, in the Civil Service and in the GFSC put out complacent statements but the time to be concerned is upon us now.
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10% of the finance industry is a dead man walking, whether here or in the City of London.
8,000 employed in Guernsey finance – from that you can work out how many island jobs are likely to be shed for yourself.
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If you had ever bothered tryng to find the Bank of Ireland’s office in the High Street & then tried to get some kind of service, you would know why they had to pull out of Guernsey!
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@roberto
Moving your account to the IoM would not be a bright move. Their Depositors Compensation Scheme as it now stands can barely be said to be operational now, and the Isle of Man Government keep telling us that if another bank went bust then the payout schedule would no doubt lengthen significantly (that is to years and years!!!)
And remember it only covers to 50K.
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Why move the money to IoM. It’s better to take them home… It’s very risky to have the money in the banks.
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The whole point of zero 10 was to make us competitive. Notwitshanding the current ‘crisis’, this is ominous.
Time for some reflection? We are skint!
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Jackie
It is looking like zero10 will turn out to be a £80million plus annual payment to buy jobs in finance.
The real issue is whether the “bribe” was necessary. I think not.
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Herbert
I have been a long standing customer of Bristol & West International and subsequently Bank of Ireland and can only commend the staff and service in this organisation. I do not want to have my account serviced from IOM but will be very sad to see them go. Perhaps the GFSC can slim down a bit now that the banks are leaving !
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I too have been a longstanding client of Bristol & West International (now The Bank of Ireland)and like many OAP clients I am now scared stiff of losing my monies. I am returning to the UK in a few months time so where can I place money safely until then – some of your comments suggest that Isle of Man is NOT a good idea?
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IoM is not a good place to keep your money. I am facing a heavy loss on my savings because the IoM has a non-operating compensation scheme. It has no money in it, therefore it can not pay out. To fund it they will collect money in from the banks on the island and pay it out in fits and starts. However, to make banks do business on the Isle, they have capped the contributions so low that it will take up to 20 years to pay out up to £50k for all the depositors, and this amounts to only 24% of the money deposited with KSF. Unless you have cast iron reasons, avoid the IoM.
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IF IOM is not a good place to keep money where should it go bearing in mind that in 4 months I am returning to live in the UK? I have placed some with my Bank Account in Jersey. I Would prefer safety rather than interest.
Thank you for any advice.
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Suffering
I beleive the IOM are commiting £150m of their own money to help KSF depositors and are proposing a scheme of arrangement to accelerate payments outside of the depeositors compensation scheme. Whilst this is not perfect and does not fully help the KSF depositors at least it recognises a degree of responsibillity which our own government does not. Our own government in the form of Trott would prefer to bluster and confuse than deal with the issues. Its probably a good thing but Guernsey is finished as a centre for taking international personal deposits. However the financial sectors that we are actively encouraging including Hedge and Private equity fund administration are now also suffering. What will all those useless regulators at the GFSC do ?
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Gings Ninga asks “what would all the useless regulators at the GFSC do ?”
Become useless bankers or insurance collectors.
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