An Post to provide banking services for Ulster Bank customers

Ireland’s An Post has formed a new partnership with Ulster Bank to provide personal and business banking services through its post offices. The state-owned postal operator said services began from this week in its network of 1,140 post offices, which open Monday to Saturday.

Ulster Bank customers can now make cash deposits in any Irish post office, or cheque deposits in post offices with cheque acceptance facilities.

Ulster Bank credit card bills can also be paid with debit cards or cash in any post office.

An Post’s sales and marketing director Liam Sheehan said the partnership extended his company’s provision of financial services across the Republic.

“We look forward to providing top quality local services to Ulster Bank customers at 1,140 Post Offices around the country – and we’re also open on Saturday mornings. This further underpins our unique position in providing local, reliable financial services to Irish business and personal customers,” he said.

Dublin-based Ulster Bank is one of the big four banks in Ireland, and is owned by UK bank NatWest, which is itself part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Ulster Bank has 146 branches of its own in the Republic, 90 in Northern Ireland, serving more than 1.9m customers.

Jim Ryan, head of branch banking at Ulster Bank, said the partnership with An Post was about improving access and convenience for the bank’s customers.

“Our goal is to become the best bank for customer trust, service and advocacy so we’re continually looking for ways to adapt and enhance the service that our customers need to make banking more convenient for them,” he said.

“This partnership with An Post means that the number of places Ulster Bank customers can conduct basic banking transactions will increase from 111 to 1,251, providing them with greater choice, extended opening hours, accessibility and flexibility.”