Ulster Bank and KBC account closures slow as more branches prepare to close next week

Only 86,298 current and deposit accounts were closed in March — a drop of 57% on the number of closures in February.

Account closures at Ulster Bank and KBC slowed dramatically during the month of March leaving nearly 168,000 current accounts open with more branches set to shutter.

Figures from the Central Bank show that 86,298 current and deposit accounts with the two departing banks were closed during last month — a drop of 57% compared to the more than 185,000 that were closed during February.

The acceleration of closures in February was said to be predominantly driven by the closure of bank branches as well as the scheduled transfer of KBC bank deposit accounts to Bank of Ireland.

Ulster Bank branches ceased taking transactions at the end of March and are due to close on Friday, April 21. It also ended services through An Post at the end of March. KBC closed all its branches last month bar one located on Grand Canal Dock in Dublin which will close at the end of August.

Of the remaining 167,988 current accounts open between Ulster Bank and KBC, approximately 101,000 of these accounts are deemed to be active. There are a further 60,181 which have been deemed by the banks as the customer’s ‘primary’ account.

If customers do not close their accounts soon, they will be queued for closure and they will not be able to access them. This also means that direct debits, standing orders, and future payments will not be made.

In total, 85% of current accounts that were open at the beginning of 2022 between Ulster Bank and KBC were either closed or inactive as at end-March.

The total number of accounts closed between the two banks since the beginning of 2022 now stands at 986,023. Of these, 513,785 were current accounts, while the remaining 472,238 were deposit accounts.

Across the remaining retail banks — Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, and AIB — 49,555 accounts were opened during the month of March, which is a drop of 53% when compared to February.

On the account opening figures, The Central Bank said it expects this to be "less related to migrating accounts, and are proportionally more impacted by organic 'business as usual' growth". 

In total, 1,156,638 current and deposit accounts were opened across the three remaining retail banks since the beginning of 2022.