Departing lender KBC has confirmed that its sale of assets to Bank Ireland has completed.

The portfolios making up the deal include €7.8 billion of loans and €1.8 billion of deposits.

The completion of the legal transfer means legal ownership of the accounts has now moved to Bank of Ireland.

The banks say they expect the portfolios themselves and as a result the day-to-day servicing of the accounts will have been transferred by the end of March.

Around 150,000 KBC customers will transfer to Bank of Ireland as part of the €6.4 billion deal, which was first announced two years ago.

"Individual customer letters have been issued which set out all the necessary information in respect of each product that is transferring to Bank of Ireland," the bank said in a statement.

The loan portfolios are made up of €7.6 billion of performing mortgages, €0.1 billion of small and medium sized business and consumer loans and €0.1 billion of non-performing mortgages.

The transaction is being funded from the bank's 'internal resources', it said.

KBC said its hubs in Galway, Limerick, Lapps Quay Cork, Wilton Shopping Centre Cork, Waterford, Maynooth, Main Street Swords, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, College Green Dublin, Baggot Street Dublin and Stillorgan Hubs will close permanently from 5pm on March 10th.

Its Grand Canal Dublin Hub will remain open until the August 31st and then permanently close from this date.

A number of KBC staff will transfer to Bank of Ireland as part of the deal.

"I welcome KBC Ireland's circa 150,000 customers to Bank of Ireland," Myles O'Grady, CEO of Bank of Ireland said.

"I'd also like to welcome each of our new colleagues."

"This is a very important strategic and commercial acquisition for Bank of Ireland. I'd like to thank colleagues who worked on this deal over the past two years, and acknowledge the professional and constructive approach of KBC throughout the process."

After the deal was initially announced in April of 2021, a legally binding agreement was signed between the two lenders in October of the same year.

Then in May of last year it received clearance from the competition regulator, followed in December by approval from the Minister for Finance.

KBC said its intention has been to protect the interests of its customers to the greatest extent possible and staff well-being continues to be a key priority.

It said the redundancy process for the staff not transferring will continue over the course of this year and into 2024 on a phased basis.

"Today's transaction marks a major step in KBC Group’s orderly and phased withdrawal from the Irish market," said KBC Group CEO, Johan Thijs.

"KBC remains committed to managing the next stages of this process responsibly over the coming period."

KBC is continuing the process of freezing and closing the current accounts of customers whose six months notice has ended without them taking action themselves.

On Wednesday, KBC Bank told an Oireachtas committee that it estimates around 26,000 of its 130,000 current account customers still need to open an account elsewhere, down 50% on the 52,000 it estimated in May.

It said 3,000 accounts were forcibly closed by it in December and this process will accelerate in the coming months as notice periods begin to expire.

It also told the committee that 11,000 more were frozen last month.

- reporting Brian Finn and Will Goodbody