How times have changed in the banking world

In 1969, when I worked as a junior accountant for fiddler’s pence, and was paying my way through evening classes in the College of Commerce and at UCD, I sought an overdraft of €50 from the Munster & Leinster (AIB) Band in Rathmines, and met with a refusal, since I lacked the necessary collateral.

Twenty years later, when I sought a loan of €5,000 from the Bank of Ireland in College Green, the loan was granted and I was able to complete the building of my bungalow, in Bray.

In a recent conversation with friends, I said that the Scots knew how to run banks safely; I quoted statistics from the history of banking: while hundreds of banks went bust in England between 1815 and 1830, not one went bust in Scotland.

The Bank of Scotland became insolvent recently. I told an English visitor how shocked I was by the news and he responded: “Maybe the Bank of Scotland went bust because it was being run at the time by an Englishman?” I was much relieved to learn that its governor then wasn’t Irish!

Daniel MacCarron

Westfield Park

Bray