The banking sector is unlikely to achieve full recovery until 2024 — but Ulster Bank's departure adds a wild card to the mix

A former National Treasury Management Agency head Michael Somers, who helped set up the agency during the debt crisis of the late 1980s, said the decision of Britain’s NatWest to pull Ulster Bank from the market sends a negative message around the ...

The State must devise a master plan for the future of banking, and it must move fast.

The Government has placed its State-owned Permanent TSB as well as AIB, which owns the EBS mortgage lender, in the lead positions to buy large parts of the Ulster Bank's €20bn loan books, of which €15bn is accounted for by mortgage loans

The withdrawal has left us with major headaches, not least a concentration of banking muscle in fewer hands. Jim Power mulls over what it all means, and concludes the State needs to take radical action now

The well-flagged expectation that Ulster Bank owner NatWest will, over a number of years, close its Irish subsidiary focuses attention on Ulster's 2,800 staff and 1. 1m customers, the bank's prospective customers too.

NatWest came to the decision after unexpectedly launching a review last year into the future of its 88 branches and €20bn in home loans and corporate lending in the Republic

Daragh Cassidy of Bonkers.ie answers your questions

The decision will dramatically lessen competition in the Irish banking sector and puts over 3,000 jobs at risk

Ulster Bank has 16% of the market share in agri-customers

Finance Minister said there are now "a number of possibilities" for other retail banks to step in to buy the financial institution

General secretary of the Financial Services Union  John O’Connell staff had been kept in the dark and they now needed clarity and certainty

Experts warn an Ulster Bank exit will have far-reaching consequences, both for business and private customers

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told the Dáil the Government was concerned about the impact the bank's withdrawal would have

The board of NatWest is to meet on Thursday evening to discuss a proposal to wind down Ulster Bank's operations here

Oireachtas Finance Committee said that in the absence of Ulster engaging, it may consider recommending legislation against the bank selling loans to vulture funds

AIB paused its plan last March due to the Covid outbreak, but announced in December  it would be proceeding in the early part of this year