Bank of Ireland has announced that it will be closing over half of its branches in Northern Ireland.
The bank currently has 28 branches in the country and the move is part of a wider cost cut effort that will see it close over 100 across Ireland.
Its UK office is also set to move soon from London to Belfast.
Bank of Ireland said the majority of the branches that are closing are self-service locations which do not offer a counter service.
The closures come after Ulster Bank's parent company, NatWest, last month announced that it was withdrawing Ulster Bank from the Irish market.
Bank of Ireland group chief executive Francesca McDonagh said: "Technology is evolving and customers are using branches less, year on year on year.
"Covid-19 has accelerated this changing behaviour and we've seen a seismic shift towards digital banking over the past 12 months."
McDonagh said Bank of Ireland has reached a "tipping point" between online and offline banking, with its mobile app the most popular way to bank. In contrast the number of people visiting branches has "sharply declined" and is now just over half of what it was in 2017.
"We know news like this can cause concern for some customers and for the communities that we serve," she added.
"We're not making these changes immediately - no branches will close in the next six months.
"That allows us to ensure the An Post partnership is up and running before any branches close, and gives us time to communicate fully with all our customers about every option available to them online, in a nearby BOI branch, or at a local post office."
Speaking on RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme, McDonagh said there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the branch closures.
"Two hundred people, colleagues, are impacted," she said.
"They have choices. If they want to work in another branch they can work in another part of the business and obviously new ways of working means people have more access to jobs in different locations.
"Or if they choose they can take voluntary redundancy but there is no compulsory element to the announcements we're making today."
McDonagh said the closures will start in September.
"This isn't a cost take out," she said.
"This is about putting our resources in, investing, where our customers want to bank with us. Even before the pandemic, two years before the pandemic, the number of people visiting branches was down by a quarter.
"In the last 12 months it's now gone down by a half and it's over 60% down in the branches we're closing, and in direct contrast we've seen massive pick-up in digital usage including really good take-up of our new mobile app."
The branches that will close in Northern Ireland are:
- Ballymena
- Banbridge
- Belfast (Lisburn Road)
- Belfast (Ormeau Road)
- Belfast (University Road)
- Crossmaglen
- Derry (Strand Road)
- Downpatrick
- Dungannon
- Keady
- Limavady
- Lisburn
- Lisnakea
- Portadown
- Strabane
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiSGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJlbGZhc3RsaXZlLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYmFuay1pcmVsYW5kLWNsb3NlLW92ZXItaGFsZi0xOTkzNzE5NNIBTGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJlbGZhc3RsaXZlLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYmFuay1pcmVsYW5kLWNsb3NlLW92ZXItaGFsZi0xOTkzNzE5NC5hbXA?oc=5
2021-03-01 10:39:58Z
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