Councillors unanimously agreed to a motion forwarded by Sinn Féin Councillor Geraldine McAteer after listening to a deputation by the Financial Services Unions at City Hall on the subject of the Ulster Bank announcement, made in November last year.
The motion states: “This council notes its concern with Ulster Bank’s decision to close another ten of its branches, resulting in the loss of 21 jobs and removal of access to cash and face to face services.
“It acknowledges that the move towards increased digitalisation will make it harder for small businesses to access finance and for people to access cash, advice and ATM services, and recognises the worrying trend that 52 branches across various banks have closed in the last three years
“(The council) supports the Financial Services Unions (FSU) and will write to Ulster Bank calling on them to reverse these closures, protect jobs and maintain its branch network, and it supports efforts that would protect our local communities and prevent further branch closures in the next few years.”
Branches on the closure list are Ballynahinch, Crumlin, Downpatrick, Glengormley, Lisnaskea, Lurgan, three in Belfast, and one in Derry. Ulster Bank said it will be making no further changes to its branch network until at least 2026.
A representative for the Financial Services Unions told the chamber at City Hall: “All the main retail banks have closed significant numbers of branches over the last five years in Northern Ireland. Between May 2020 and January 2023 banks in NI permanently closed 52 branches – 27 percent of its total branch network lost in less than three years.
“As part of their overall strategy, banks have pushed customers towards online banking, resulting in a decrease in footfall into branches. Personal service levels have decreased, access to cash has diminished, ATMs have been sold off to private operators and staff numbers have been cut.
“Ulster Bank have announced they are going to close 10 further branches, that is 10 communities, 52 employees, 8,000 vulnerable customers directly impacted by the closures, and thousands more of ordinary customers.”
He added: “Research by the Financial Conduct Authority in NI found customers continued to rely on bank, building society and credit union branches for their everyday banking needs. Research found that over a quarter of adults with day to day accounts regularly used the branch. One in six of these branches that they regularly used closed down in the last 12 months.
“The research found that small businesses are significant users of branches, and a lack of access to branches could create problems for some micro businesses.”
He said: “There comes a time when legislators and regulators must say ‘stop.’ The Financial Services Unions believes that time has arrived. 52 staff are impacted by this announcement, with some staff to be redeployed to other branch locations within the current network, while staff that are not redeployed will be offered redundancy.
“We have visited every branch on the list and spoken to all the staff. It is clear that staff are disillusioned and stressed by yet more announcements in which they have no direct say or involvement. For some it is the fourth or fifth time that they have been asked to redeploy across the network.”
He added: “We believe change should not be imposed, but should be negotiated and agreed with key stakeholders – workers, customers and communities. Announcing 10 branch closures without consulting community stakeholders, local politicians and others is not the best way to manage change.
“The FSU feels a stakeholders forum should be established to manage significant changes such as branch closures, which affect local communities and in particular, vulnerable people.”
He added: “The CEOs of the main banks in the Republic of Ireland have stated on the record in the Dáil that they have no intention to close branches. In Nationwide Bank in the UK, Commonwealth Bank in Australia, they have come out and put a moratorium on branch closures.
“We believe in Northern Ireland there is no commitment on the branch structure from any of the main banks including Danske, Ulster, Bank of Ireland or AIB, and we believe that should be forthcoming.”
