Ulster Bank branch in Trim to be taken over by Permanent TSB as part of €7bn deal
Trim's Ulster Bank will become a branch of Permanent TSB as part of a €7bn deal that has been agreed between the two banks.
Permanent TSB has entered a legally binding agreement to acquire €7.6bn of assets from NatWest owned Ulster Bank including its retail, SME and Finance Asset business.
News that Trim is one of 25 Ulster Bank branches that will be taken over by Permanent TSB has been widely welcomed in the town. It means a banking presence will remain on High Street in the historic landmark building that has been home to the bank for more than 150 years, and that Trim will not see any reduction in the number of financial institutions operating there.
It has also been welcomed by customers of Permanent TSB from the area who will no longer have to travel to Navan or Maynooth to access a branch.
The Kilcock and Ardee branches of Ulster Bank are also to be included in the binding agreement and will become Permanent TSB branches.
Permanent TSB has also said that the approximately 450 Ulster Bank employees who are assigned to the businesses that are being acquired, will be entitled to transfer to Permanent TSB.
Ulster Bank announced last February that it is to pull out of Ireland where it has a network of 88 branches in a major blow to competition in the banking sector, but also to towns where the bank had branches. Ulster Bank was the first bank to open a branch in Trim and had been there since 1861. Of the 88 Ulster Bank branches, just 25 will be kept on by Permanent TSB- with the bank already having branches in several locations where Ulster Bank branches are due to close, including Navan.
The €7.6bn deal includes Ulster Bank's €7 billion performing non-tracker residential mortgage book and its performing SME loan book - worth €230m.
It also includes the entire Lombard Asset Finance loan business - worth €400m - and 25 branches in Ulster Bank's branch network.
Ulster Bank tracker mortgages are not included in the proposed sale.
The sale is expected to be completed in phases between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 with the majority of loans expected to transfer in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The deal is subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals from the CCPC, the Central Bank and approval by PTSB shareholders.
Ulster Bank has 1.1 million customers here along with 2,800 staff around the country.
Ulster Bank, then known as Ulster Banking Co, opened in Trim in 1861 in a rented house in High Street. Less than a year later, the bank invited tenders for the construction of a new banking house which was designed by architect James Hamilton
Solidly constructed of limestone and featuring a beautifully carved façade frieze, the scale of the building meant that it dominated Trim’s Streetscape.