Minister McConalogue meets Ulster Bank CEO on bank’s Irish exit

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD has met with Ulster Bank chief executive Jane Howard following the bank’s decision to start exiting the Irish market.

Minister McConalogue said, “I am pleased to have had the opportunity to engage with the CEO and her colleagues on the bank’s decision to exit the Irish market.

“This is a difficult situation for many customers and I stressed the need for continued engagement and communication between Ulster Bank, its customers and its staff in the coming weeks and months. It is crucial that the immediate servicing of customers continues which Ms Howard confirmed would happen and she assured me that the bank has capacity to continue to lend to their customers. I also stressed the need to protect, where at all possible, the branch network footprint.

“In terms of the agriculture sector, I impressed upon the bank the need to continue to support their family farm customers. The strength and resilience of our agriculture sector is based on very low debt levels but continued access to finance is key in delivering on our ambitions for the sector. I was pleased to hear the bank is continuing its participation in Statebacked schemes and in particular that it intends to proceed with investment loans under the Future Growth Loan Scheme, for which there has been great demand from their agri-food customers.

“It’s critical to note that the terms of loans and mortgages cannot be changed if the customer continued to meet the conditions of the loan regardless of the outcome of the Ulster Bank process.

“I will continue to keep in communication with Ulster Bank to ensure that issues important to farmers and the agri-food sector are fully represented in the time ahead,” Minister McConalogue said.