Banking executives believe that a significant effort is required to persuade the remaining Irish KBC and Ulster Bank clients to create new accounts elsewhere before the banks close.
Despite the knowledge that the two banks’ accounts are about to be closed, more than one in ten consumers is still actively utilising them.
Both banks will stop operations in Ireland by the end of the year, having decided to leave the Irish market in 2021.
However, according to recent research from the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, just 13% of existing Ulster Bank and KBC clients need to establish a new current account elsewhere.
On the plus side, a countrywide poll of 1,000 people found that by December 2022, 68% of surviving consumers had either created a new account or wanted to transfer to a new provider.
Another 17 percent intend to terminate their accounts without switching banks.
Activity levels on current Ulster Bank and KBC clients’ accounts have revealed a considerable drop in usage for some recurring payments between November and December, as predicted.
In a hint that things are improving, only 12% of customers who still have accounts used them to collect social welfare income payments in December, down from 24% the previous month.
Similarly, the proportion of people using a KBC or Ulster Bank bank account to make mobile phone or home broadband direct debit payments declined from 30% in November to 20% in December.
BPFI CEO Brian Hayes agreed that a big push is required to persuade the remaining 13% of account holders to convert.
“The survey findings clearly demonstrate the huge amount of progress that the industry has made in the migration of hundreds of thousands of customer accounts, with the majority of impacted customers reporting that they have either completed the move to a new provider or are well into the process,” he said.
‘And, while we have now reached a position where just 13% of consumers, or one in ten, indicate that they still need to establish an account, it is vital to recognise that there is still work to be done in encouraging this set of customers to open an account.
“For some time, the existing banks have been conducting significant consumer outreach to these clients, and now we are strongly advising all customers who need to create a new account to do so as soon as possible by engaging with a new provider to establish new banking arrangements.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Protection has already advised ex-Ulster Bank and KBC clients to move accounts in order to continue receiving social welfare payments without interruption.
They recommended that the simplest approach to modify details was to log on to MyWelfare.ie
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