There was a time when the Rabo Direct bank was the new and cheeky kid on the block. A bank that didn’t have complicated and sneaky rules and that gave customers what they really wanted from a bank. 90,000 people became (or are still) customers but over the last few years it got quiet around Rabo Direct. No more advertisement, no new attractive offers, just quiet. This week we found out why: Rabobank lost interest in Ireland and on Wednesday they announced the final chapter, which is their closure and departure from Ireland by 16 May.
Surprisingly only 31 employees will be let go, but 90,000 customers and sizeable 3 billion of deposits are affected.
The bank explained that the reason for the departure is a decision by their Dutch parent Rabobank Group to simplify the business model across the world and reduce costs, but you can’t help it and think that Ireland was just not interesting enough anymore. Will we end up again with just the “old style” banks like AIB, BoI, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB. The bunch that was always here and that doesn’t know what innovative services and customer focus means? :-O
More details of this story is on this RTE News website.
