The first tranche of Ulster Bank branches to close as part of the bank's withdrawal from the Irish market have shut their doors today.
But the 12 outlets that closed at lunchtime will reopen later this month or early next month, rebranded and refitted as Permanent TSB branches, under a deal between the two lenders that will see them taken over.
A further 13 Ulster Bank branches will shut next Friday and they will also reopen as PTSB outlets within a couple of weeks.
The 25 branches that are closing ahead of their transfer to PTSB are situated all over the country.
The other 63 Ulster Bank branches will remain open for the moment, with final permanent closure dates expected to be announced in a few months' time.
Also from today, Ulster Bank will resume the process of freezing the accounts of customers whose six months' notice period to close them has expired.
The freezing of the accounts, which is the step before they are closed by the bank, was paused on 9 December to prevent customers facing financial difficulty over the Christmas period.
Ulster Bank has not yet published a date by which it intends to cease offering all normal retail banking services in Ireland.
That will be contingent on the speed and success of the process of getting customers to close and migrate their accounts to other lenders.
According to the latest data from the Central Bank, of the 1.233 million accounts that were open in both departing lenders - Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland - at the start of last year, less than half have so far been closed.
It will also depend on the completion of the sale of Ulster Bank loans and other assets to other banks.
Permanent TSB has said it hopes to fully complete the migration of the assets it is purchasing from Ulster Bank by the end of June.
In November, PTSB said it had completed the purchase of the performing non-tracker residential mortgage business, made up of loans worth €6.2bn.
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€5.2bn of those were migrated at that time, with the remainder set to follow in the second quarter of this year.
The Ulster Bank SME and asset finance businesses that are being bought will also transfer to Permanent TSB in due course.
Up to 450 staff will transfer from Ulster Bank to Permanent TSB as part of the wider deal.
AIB is buying Ulster Bank’s tracker mortgage book and is currently awaiting a decision from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on the proposed transaction.
Ulster Bank branches closing today ahead of transfer to PTSB:
- Ardee
- Ballyjamesduff
- Blackrock
- Blanchardstown Village
- Celbridge
- Enniscorthy
- Kilcock
- Lucan
- Ranelagh
- Rochestown Avenue
- Swords Pavilions
- Trim
Ulster Bank branches closing on 13 January ahead of transfer to PTSB:
- Athenry
- Ballybofey
- Ballyconnell
- Belmullet
- Buncrana
- Donegal
- Eyre Square
- Killybegs
- Shannon
- Thurles
- Tuam
- Westport
- Wilton
