One thing is for sure – we’ll soon have fewer banks to moan about

This is going to be a big problem for customers, both personal and business, of many of the other foreign-owned banks, especially if they abandoned AIB and Bank of Ireland for seemingly better deals and now have to go back to their original bankers, tails between their legs. Will they be entertained?

WE’RE going back to the future in Irish banking. We are returning to a largely two-bank economy, with only a few much smaller competitors offering bits and pieces of finance to those who need it for productive investment and necessary consumption. AIB and Bank of Ireland are going to be the only games in town but the big question is how receptive they will be to the needs of customers.

The signs are not good. AIB seems willing but it may not be able. While losses of nearly €900 million in the first six months of 2009 actually were not nearly as bad as had been expected, the bank’s losses in the future could explode again, depending on the price NAMA will pay for the property-related loans on its books.