85% of Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland accounts now closed
New figures from the Central Bank show that a total of 86,298 current
and deposit accounts were closed in Ulster Bank and KBC Bank in four
weeks to the end of March.
The account closures come as the two banks continue their withdrawal from the Irish market.
The Central Bank said this marked a reduction of 57% compared with
the four weeks to the end of February, when there was a significant
acceleration in closures after the two banks took steps to proactively
close accounts.
Today’s figures show that 167,988 current accounts remained open in Ulster Bank and KBC Bank by the end of March.
60,181 of these were deemed by the banks as the customer’s “primary” account.
The Central Bank noted that 85% of current accounts at Ulster Bank
and KBC Bank Ireland that were open at the beginning of 2022 were either
closed or inactive by the end of March.
The total number of accounts closed since the start of 2022 at the two banks has now reached 986,023.
513,785 of these were current accounts, while the remaining 472,238 were deposit accounts.
The Central Bank said a total of 49,555 accounts were opened in the
latest four week period under review, down 53% when compared with the
four weeks to the end of February.
The Central Bank said it expects the account opening figures are less
related to migrating accounts, and are proportionally more impacted by
organic “business as usual” growth.
A total of 1,156,638 current and deposit accounts were opened across
the three remaining retail banks – AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent
TSB – since the beginning of 2022, it added.
Article Source: 85% of Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland accounts now closed
