It was announced yesterday that RaboDirect Ireland, the online savings bank, will be closing on 16th May 2018. The decision follows moves by its parent, the Rabobank Group, to simplify its business model across the world and reduce costs.
RaboDirect was established in Ireland in 2005 to provide efficient funding for lending activities. In a statement yesterday, the bank said that as conditions have changed across Europe generally, including Ireland, this source of funding is no longer required by Rabobank.
The bank says it continues to be committed to its corporate banking activities in Ireland, with its exclusive focus on Food and Agri clients, and they will not be impacted by the withdrawal of RaboDirect from the Irish market.
Rabobank said in a statement yesterday, "We would like to thank our customers for their support over the years. We pride ourselves on our customer service and have always tried to make sure that doing business with us was as easy as possible. We intend to continue to honour these commitments as we exit the market and will make it as straightforward as possible for our customers to close their accounts and transfer their savings securely to another financial institution. We have begun contacting each customer directly with the actions they need to take before 16th May 2018."
Source: www.businessworld.ie