Financial Regulator must ensure smooth transition for Ulster Bank/KBC customers says Nash
Labour finance spokesperson Ged Nash has today (Friday, 1st April) issued a stark warning that hundreds of thousands of Ulster Bank and KBC customers could be potentially exposed to weeks of personal and business banking chaos when the two banks leave the market this year.
The warning comes following an admission by the Governor of the Central Bank at the Finance Committee this week that banks are “not ready” to handle the transfer of Ulster and KBC bank accounts.
Deputy Nash said:
“This has massive potential to be hugely problematic if both the exiting and receiving banks do not have the staff and make the necessary resources available to work with all their customers. The reality is that a missed mortgage or loan repayment has major consequences and the potential for this to happen needs to be avoided at all costs.
This week, I questioned the Central Bank on this at the Finance Committee and the Governor clearly stated that he does not believe the banks are ‘ready’ for the sheer scale of the challenge ahead.
Central Bank officials assured me that they will use every tool available to them to make sure that the transition happens in a customer-focused way. The problem is that we, and unions like the Financial Services Union and their members, have heard all of this before. At the first sign of a problem, the regulator must go in hard on the banks and make sure they put their customers first.”