The COVID-19 pandemic presents us all with big challenges. Bank of Ireland is working to serve customers impacted by coronavirus, while also supporting its colleagues in all parts of the business. To achieve this, the Bank is making changes to its branch network in the Republic of Ireland from Tuesday 24 March to ensure resources are focused on banking services most in demand by customers right now.
- 161 branches nationwide will be open as normal.
- 148 of these will provide a full service to customers, including counter services for cash, coin and cheque services.
- 13 locations are Advice and Self Service branches – these provide cash and cheque lodgement and cash withdrawal facilities through self-service devices, but do not offer a counter service.
- While 101 locations will close temporarily during the pandemic, every Bank of Ireland branch will continue to provide an external ATM cash withdrawal service.
Normal opening hours will continue in the branches that are open. These branches will also continue the provision of prioritised services for over 65’s and carers between 10am and 11am, Monday to Friday.
Over the past ten days, the Bank has seen a reduction in footfall in branches, predominantly at Advice and Self Service locations, while at the same time there has been an increase in customers needing a range of other supports. The changes announced today will allow colleagues from temporarily closed branches to support the Bank’s larger branches and help contact centres manage the increased volume of customers requiring COVID-19 support, especially for Mortgage and SME loan payment breaks.
Discussing the changes, Gavin Kelly, CEO Retai Ireland, said: “We’re constantly reviewing our operations to ensure we are providing the right supports for customers through this challenging period. These changes help us to respond to the most pressing needs of our customers right now – that’s support in managing the impact of coronavirus on their personal finances and on their businesses.
“These changes also refocus our branch network to our larger locations, which will help us support social distancing. This is extremely important for our customers and colleagues, whose safety and wellbeing is our priority. This will complement the enhanced cleaning and hygiene measures we have in place in our branches.”
