AIB to place adverts to cash in on bank exit

AIB has moved quickly to make a play for new SME business, likely to arise from Bank of Scotland’s pending retreat from the Irish market.

Less than a week after Lloyds Banking Group – which owns Bank of Scotland – announced that it was pulling out of Ireland completely (having decided to close its Halifax Ireland retail banking division), AIB is to formally advertise in the national press this week that it is “open for business” for Bank of Scotland customers affected.

Last week’s news from Bank of Scotland caused concern among the small business community with lobby group, ISME, saying that SME loan options will be restricted further “in an already shrinking banking market”.

Speaking yesterday, AIB’s head of retail and SME banking – Denis O’Callaghan – said that his bank’s intentions aren’t so much to create the appearance of a feeding frenzy among the existing banks, but rather to illustrate that AIB is open to the concerns of all customers who are finding it difficult to get support; including concerned current Bank of Scotland (Ireland) customers.

In the first six months of this year, AIB claims to have approved 90% of all SME loan applications it received. Mr O’Callaghan claimed the bank’s new business customer levels are rising each year and it has received a steady stream of inquiries from potential customers since Bank of Scotland’s announced its intentions last week.