Irish Examiner View: Ulster plan must not limit consumer choice

Ulster Bank's exit from the Irish market will greatly reduce customers' choice. Brian Lawless/PA Wire

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.

Despite assurances about deposits, borrowing rates agreed with Ulster, and many other arrangements too, many important questions remain unanswered. One is the very real prospect of private depositors forced to find a new home for savings having to pay to deposit funds with another institution.