Bank of Scotland has confirmed it is to shut
down its asset finance activities in Ireland, despite recently
announcing a focus on commercial lending, citing poor returns on
intermediary business as the reason.
The lender, now owned by Lloyds Banking Group,
has also announced that it will also close down its 44 Halifax
retail branches in Ireland, as part of a long-awaited review of the
bank’s operations in the country.
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Altogether, some 750 jobs will be lost,
although the bank could not say how many of these would be in asset
finance. “We will be retaining a small number of colleagues in the
functions of management and collection,” a spokesperson said.
In its general comment to the press on the
closures, BoS Ireland said that it would “focus on its established
strengths of corporate and commercial banking”, a statement
seemingly at odds with the bank’s decision to run down its asset
finance business.
When asked to comment on this, a spokesperson
explained: “The difference (between asset finance and other
corporate and commercial lending) is that ours was an intermediary
business, working through dealers and brokers. There was a much
reduced return on assets, and that was not seen as a good use of
assets.”
Fred Crawley
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