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Mark Stedman

KBC staff 'concerned for their jobs' as bank decides on its future in Ireland

The bank’s management will be deciding how to tackle the Irish market on the 9 February.

A UNION REPRESENTING financial service employees say that there is “significant concern” among the staff at KBC Ireland as “all options are on the table” concerning the bank’s future.

It was reported last week that Johan Thijs, Group CEO of KBC Bank, said that a decision regarding the future of KBC Ireland would be announced on 9 February.

This means that a decision regarding whether the bank will keep all operations as they are, whether they will merge the bank or sell it on are all possible options according to the union, and the uncertainty is a source of worry for staff.

“This uncertainty cannot be allowed to hang over bank staff for the next month,” said General Secretary of the Financial Services Union Larry Broderick today.

“I have written to the Chief Executive of KBC Ireland expressing the concerns of KBC bank staff who have contacted us in recent days. I have urged KBC to provide clarity to staff and also to put in place a mechanism so that the views of staff have a voice before a decision is made.”

KBC Bank Ireland employs over 1,000 people in Ireland with centres in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Kildare, Waterford, Wicklow and Kilkenny.

KBC Bank had an operating profit of €17.1 million before tax and impairment for the third quarter of 2016, down from €33.9 million in quarter three the previous year – with KBC Group reporting its net profit at €629 million for quarter three 2016.

They also added 16,900 new customer accounts in that same quarter, bringing to 49,900 the total added in the first nine months of the year.

The Central Bank of Ireland issued KBC Bank Ireland a fine of €1.4 million last October for failing to implement adequate policies and processes, and obtaining prior approval before issuing a loan.

Read: Central Bank fines KBC Bank Ireland €1.4 million for “repeated breaches” on lending codes

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39 Comments
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    Mute Roy Scott
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:15 PM

    A great staff and service , you can actually get to talk to people there, unlike the ‘big Irish lads’ seems like the financial worlds strategy is ‘if it’s working , let’s break it’ !

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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:38 PM

    They will be a loss to Ireland if they go, not just the 1000 jobs that would go but they also help to keep the market competitive. Their mortgage interest rates are generally the lowest.

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    Mute Derek hutchings
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:11 PM

    If they leave will more vulture funds buy their loans and the people who got mortgages with them will suffer

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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:35 PM

    @Derek hutchings:

    Why would a bank sell good mortgages to a vulture fund, absolutely no logic in it.

    94
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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:50 PM

    Nick I’m afraid selling on mortgages was one of the key bits in the chain that caused the old crash

    Then the scam was the banks sold them, chopped into securities, to investment houses, who sold them (knowing they’d explode in defaults) to their own middle class customers (as internal memos mocked them as ‘marks’) and then bet against them to make even more money when they flopped

    There’s been no serious change in regulation of the financial sector in the EU or US since, they’re making the same mistakes again, and whole new ones.

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:55 PM

    What looks like a good mortgage today might default later. Toms 500 000 mortgage for his 4 bedroom semi d in Lucan looked fine in 2007 when he was on 1600 a week and the wife on 900.
    Didn’t look so good in 2008 when their combined income is €376 welfare instead of €2500

    They don’t have to sell them to vulture funds for it to cause trouble and they can often see down the line when a good batch will turn bad. They might be ruthless and lack any ethics (which no shareholder owned company can afford to have) but their staff are some of the brightest intellectual talent on earth going to waste moving numbers around. They can construct ingenious scams and convince politicians it’s all for the common good cos unlike them most politicians are socially intimidated by then and far dumber so can’t grasp what they’re doing

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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:02 PM

    @Ryan Carroll:

    Financial institutions selling mortgages to other financial institutions wasn’t the cause of the crash. The banks didn’t sell the mortgages they bought swap agreements to insure themselves against mortgage default, it was only when the mortgages started to default that financial institutions sold these impaired mortgages which they needed to get off their books.

    KBC has one of the best mortgage books in Ireland as they were very selective to whom they loaned money and they insisted on a high LTV. The KBC mortgage portfolio would be much sought after and other Irish Banks would be very interested in purchasing it. Selling to vulture funds is like a fire sale, KBC selling their mortgage portfolio will be at a premium.

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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:06 PM

    @Ryan Carroll:

    “What looks like a good mortgage today might default later.”

    How does this differ from any loan from any institution and any point in time

    49
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    Mute Randal McNally
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:13 PM

    That’s just what Ulster Bank does. But then is the Central Bank did their job they shouldn’t be allowed to trade at all after their atrocious behaviour in the past and Now. Afraid we’ve come to expect little from our bankers and regulators !

    12
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    Mute Steve Austin
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    Jan 9th 2017, 3:09 PM

    @Ryan Carroll ..man on €1600 & woman on €900 ..1975 was on they want their perception back ..#thatsaysalotaboutyou

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    Mute Finbarr Barry
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    Jan 9th 2017, 6:26 PM

    They were selling sub prime mortgages sliced and diced into AAA mortgage backed securities to other financial institutions, such as pension funds etc, so when these sub prime mortgages started to go belly up it brought down the whole house of cards

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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 9:11 PM

    @Finbarr Barry:

    Thats rubbish Finbar.

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    Mute Tommy D
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    Jan 9th 2017, 11:59 PM

    I would rather go to jail than give a vulture fund one cent. A banker will lend you an umbrella when it’s Sunny but will ask for it back if it rains

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    Mute Mark Gerard Lochlain
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:25 PM

    What would this actually mean for someone who has a mortgage with KBC? Thanks in advance.

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    Mute Declan McCabe
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:39 PM

    The Mortgage would continue as normal unless they sell the loan onto another group. Unlikely if the loans are performing well. I would imagine this would have little impact on you.

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    Mute Pat Tobin
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    Jan 9th 2017, 3:27 PM

    I’d hope it would stay the same but I’d imagine you would lose the discount on the %Apr as you would no longer be a kbc current account holder

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    Mute Declan McCabe
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    Jan 9th 2017, 3:33 PM

    True enough Pat. Interesting to see what they’d do there. The easy thing would be to just remove the discount of course…

    14
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    Mute Jason Murphy
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:24 PM

    I have been with them the last 7 years plus(mortgage), have to say the are great to deal with, would be a shame for their employees and customers alike if the closed up.. a big loss to the Irish market..

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    Mute James Carpenter
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:25 PM

    I would not call KBC a bank. It takes 8 days to clear a check as they have to lodge it to ulster bank. They don’t deal in cash. It is a bank for the well off.

    62
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    Mute Mrs M
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:01 PM

    It’s a “cheque” !

    71
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:08 PM

    @Mrs M:

    Its a “check” in the US.

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    Mute Mrs M
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:09 PM

    Are we in the US ?

    80
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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:09 PM

    @James Carpenter: cheque are something that need to be gotten rid of, in this day and age people should be using bank transfers as they are far faster.

    Its not a bank for the well off, its a bank for people that do most of their business via cards, online services and bank transfers. You don’t need to be well off to do this.

    60
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:19 PM

    You never know on social media where people are or where they are from. If someone is from the US I would expect them to spell Color, neighbor and check. If someone posts a comment with a culturally different spelling Ii would not jump on my high horse to correct them.

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    Mute eclectic25
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    Jan 9th 2017, 7:11 PM

    @James Carpenter: cheques are on the way to being obsolete. Not very many people use them and with good reason, when there are cheaper and faster alternatives.

    11
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    Mute Brendan Moriarty
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:16 PM

    Remember they pursued the widow of a mortgagee who they’d driven to suicide for the money? Bank of You? Bank of Murderers more like

    54
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:44 PM

    @Brendan Moriarty:

    If people do not pay there mortgage do you suggest that the bank doesn’t pursue them? Have you considered how that may cause other people to stop paying their mortgages and then maybe how that may impact all other mortgage holders with the bank? I don’t believe it take a genius to work out what happens if the bank stop collecting or fail to pursue loan repayments.

    80
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:45 PM

    @Nick Allen:
    their not there*

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    Mute Brendan Moriarty
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    Jan 10th 2017, 11:08 AM

    Stephanie Meehan, Fiachra Daly and their 2 young children lived in Priory Hall, the symbol par excellence of everything wrong with the Celtic Tiger. Constant harassment by KBC almost undoubtedly drove Fiachra to take his own life. His life insurance still left €16k short on the mortgage (I repeat, for Priory Hall). 2 days after being informed of his death, KBC started chasing Stephanie for the money.
    Never forgive, never forget.

    4
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    Mute Joey Dempsey
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:57 PM

    It would be a real shame if it where to be sold, albeit the soundings seem positive. Fantastic Bank, best banking app on the market.

    43
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:21 PM

    KBC is highly profitable but not profitable enough.

    Next step threat of redundancies unless salary trikmings are successfully implemented.

    36
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    Mute sportsmad
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    Jan 9th 2017, 2:50 PM

    €17m operating profit ? No doubt their ridiculous high variable mortgage rate helped.

    22
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Jan 9th 2017, 3:11 PM

    @sportsmad:

    Would that be because they offer the lowest variable rate in Ireland?

    42
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    Mute sportsmad
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    Jan 9th 2017, 6:35 PM

    @Nick Allen: so should we commend them for 4.5% when the European base rate is 0% ? All banks are profiteering on the backs of mortgage holders with variable rates. Hardly a recommendation.

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    Mute Richard Egan
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    Jan 9th 2017, 11:00 PM

    What will happen to people who have accounts with KBC but no mortgage , if they pull out of Ireland?

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    Mute Imnotrodten
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    Jan 9th 2017, 1:39 PM

    Holy shite balls batman

    17
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    Mute Kim Keoghan
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    Jan 9th 2017, 7:04 PM

    Not surprised to hear this , I did a stint there lately as agency staff , they employ a large number of agency staff , short contracts . Less redundancy payments….

    13
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