Further local jobs are under threat this week following Postbank’s announcement that they will be winding up, leading to the closure of their Kilkenny branch.
The news further compounds the announcement that Bank of Scotland (Ireland ) are to close down their retail banking arm, Halifax, which has a branch on Friary Street in the city.
It is not known how many local jobs are likely to be lost following Postbank’s announcement. the bank employ around 260 people nationwide but some jobs are expected to be absorbed back into An Post’s services.
Postbank, a joint venture between An Post and French bank BNP, has told its Kilkenny customers that there is ‘no need to take any action at this point’.
“It will be business as usual for existing Postbank, One Direct and Postpoint customers and they will be able to conduct their banking, insurance and related activities in the normal way until further notice,” the company said.
Postbank are expected to continue to their services for exisiting customers until the end of the year but they are not accepting new banking customers. The bank have said they will write to customers in the coming weeks with information about the options that will be available to them.
Customers with any concerns can contact the postbank support team on 1890 303040.
Meanwhile, UNITE trade union has voiced its dissatisfaction that Bank of Scotland (Ireland ) have ‘withdrawn from talks on the redundancy package being put together’ as a result of the closure of their retail bank.
UNITE members voted overwhelmingly in favour of possibleindustrial action.
“Bank of Scotland (Ireland ) management produced the mess which has resulted in this first ever closure of a retail bank in Ireland,” said UNITE Regional Officer, Brian Gallagher.
“They refused at any stage to give a straight answer on their future plans and then on February 9 gave two hours notice of their decision to throw 750 families’ lives into chaos.
“They have spoken of a voluntary redundancy programme to soften the harshness of their actions in the public domain but have refused to put forward any suggestion as to what this would entail and have refused to extend the deadline for application until such detail was known.”
