National Irish Bank
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Danske Bank, formerly known as the National Irish Bank, is a bank operating in the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
. The bank is a subsidiary of the Danske Bank Group which is headquartered in Copenhagen. Danske Bank is organised in three business units – Personal Banking, Business Banking and Corporates & Institutions – that span all of the Group's geographical markets. Since November 2012, all of the Group's banking activities have been gathered under the Danske Bank brand name. The group's websites were brought fully into alignment with the new organisation at the same time.


History

National Irish Bank was originally the Republic of Ireland branch network of
Northern Bank Northern Bank Limited T/A Danske Bank is a retail bank in Northern Ireland. Northern Bank is one of the oldest banks in Ireland having been formed in 1809, and forms part of one of the Big Four banks in Ireland. Northern Bank took on the name ...
, one of the oldest banks in Ireland, having been founded as a private partnership in 1809, converting to a joint stock entity in 1824. National Irish Bank was created as a separate entity in 1986, at first under the name Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited, when its owners, UK-based
Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...
, separated Northern Bank's operations in the Republic of Ireland from its
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
business. In 1987, both banks were acquired by
National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...
(along with Midland Bank's Scottish subsidiary,
Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money for ...
). In 1988 the Republic of Ireland operation was renamed National Irish Bank Limited whilst Northern Bank Limited remained the name of the Northern Ireland operation. Nonetheless, a single management team continued to run both banks, which shared many services and back office functions. During this era, the logo of the National Irish Bank was that of the National Australia Bank (at the time), except that the red star had been recoloured green, and "Irish Bank" was added alongside the word "National". The original Northern Bank (Ireland) logo had been the Midland Bank
griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
device.


Lacey era: 1988–1994

In 1988, Jim Lacey had been appointed CEO of NIB. He was briefed to spearhead a campaign to raise the bank’s profile, which included innovations such as lower interest rates. Lacey commissioned a high-profile advertising campaign, featuring fictitious NIB manager Martin, who would repeatedly call his cousin Niall about the great deals the bank was offering. In 1993, Irish crime lord
Martin Cahill Martin "The General" Cahill (23 May 1949 – 18 August 1994) was an Irish crime boss from Dublin. He masterminded a series of burglaries and armed robberies, and was shot and killed while out on bail for kidnapping charges. The Provisional Iris ...
planned a raid on NIB, using then CEO Jim Lacey and his family as hostages to extract up to €10 million in cash. In early 1993 John "The Coach" Traynor met with his boss Cahill to provide him with inside information about the inner-workings of NIB at
College Green College Green or The College Green may refer to: * College Green, Adelaide outdoor venue at the University of Adelaide * College Green, Bristol, England * College Green (Dartmouth College), New Hampshire, primarily known as "the Green" * College ...
, Dublin. Traynor told Cahill that the bank regularly held more than €10 million in cash in the building. The plan was to abduct Lacey, his wife and four children and take them to an isolated hiding place. There they would be held with fellow gang member, but acting as a "hostage" Jo Jo Kavanagh, who would frighten Lacey into handing over every penny stored in the bank's vaults. On 1 November 1993, Cahill's gang that included Brian Meehan seized Lacey and his wife outside his home in
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. Holding them at Lacey's home, Kavanagh was brought in and tied up, telling the family that he had been abducted two weeks before. On 2 November, Kavanagh drove Lacey to College Green to collect the ransom money, with Lacey eventually withdrawing IR£300,000 from an accessible cash machine. Kavanagh then drove the pair and the money to the local Garda station, where he told them the pair had been kidnapped and forced to take part in a robbery. With a ransom note requesting payment of €10 million in cash, the Gardaí began investigating. They quickly found that Kavanagh had claimed child allowance during his two-week "capture," and so arrested him. Cahill then planned with Kavanagh to "raid" Kavanagh's home, and show intent to kill the Lacey family by shooting Kavanagh in the leg. Kavanagh was then to call the Irish newspapers from his hospital bed, and claim he was a victim of the Lacey kidnapping gang. However, the plan failed, and the gang were arrested. Released on bail, in 1994, Cahill was murdered by a claimed
Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...
hitman close to his home in
Rathmines Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to t ...
, who had been paid for by rival drug gang crime lord and former Cahill gang member John Gilligan. In 1997, Kavanagh was jailed for 12 years for offences connected with the Lacey kidnapping.


1998 Inspection

Dismissed by National Australia Bank in 1994, Lacey was subsequently appointed CEO of publishers Lafferty, and also appointed chairman of the
Irish Aviation Authority The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) ( ga, Údaras Eitlíochta na hÉireann) is a commercial semi-state company in Republic of Ireland, Ireland responsible for the regulation of safety aspects of air travel. It is also responsible for providing air ...
and the
Dublin Docklands Development Authority The Dublin Docklands Development Authority ( ga, Údarás Forbartha Dugthailte Bhaile Átha Cliath) (DDDA) was created by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997 to lead a major project of physical, social and economic regeneration in ...
. However, he resigned these positions in 1998 after a report on RTÉ was further investigated by
High Court of the Republic of Ireland The High Court ( ga, An Ard-Chúirt) of Ireland is a court which deals at first instance with the most serious and important civil and criminal cases. When sitting as a criminal court it is called the Central Criminal Court and sits with judg ...
. After subsequently appointing inspectors in Dublin, Their report conclusions were: * Bogus non-resident accounts in some branches enabled customers to evade tax * Investment policies were promoted for funds undisclosed to the Revenue Commissioners * Special Savings Accounts had Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT) deducted at a reduced rate. Note: this point may be incorrect as the legal SSA product was designed to have DIRT deducted at a lower rate. Budget legislation over the past number of years has brought the reduced DIRT rate up and the standard DIRT down to a point where they both currently meet i.e.: 20%. * There was improper charging of interest or fees to some customers. (The bank has refunded all customers who the Inspectors alleged had been mischarged.) Following the Inspectors' report, the
Director of Corporate Enforcement The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) is the competent authority in Ireland for the general promotion of compliance with the Companies Acts, the investigation of breaches of the Companies Acts and the taking of any necessary enforcement act ...
took disqualification proceedings against nine former NIB personnel, none of whom has been employed by NIB since the 1990s.


Changes under Danske

On 1 March 2005, Danske formally took control of National Irish Bank. It announced as its first act that the Northern Bank and National Irish Bank would be fully separated from each other, with a new management team appointed to National Irish Bank. The bank changed over to the Danske Bank technology platform. The bank adopted the logo of Danske Bank, albeit with the word "Danske" replaced by "National Irish". The bank was formally relaunched on 18 April, with a new product offering, and a revamped internet banking system. Among the innovations is the use of
text messages Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...
to communicate with customers. In June 2005, Andrew Healy was appointed chief executive officer of National Irish Bank. In January 2007, Danske Bank announced that the banking business of National Irish Bank Limited would be transferred to Danske Bank A/S, Irish Branch. The practical effect of this was that from 1 April 2007 National Irish Bank was no longer regulated by the
Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland ( ga, Banc Ceannais na hÉireann) is Ireland's central bank, and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It is the country's financial services regulator for most categories of financial firms ...
but by the Danish Financial Services Authority, as NIB was now to be a division of Danske Bank rather than a separate subsidiary. In December 2009, National Irish Bank announced that it was launching a restructuring programme, this would involve closing 25 of its branches and also changing is banking model. Beginning in early 2010, National Irish Bank began moving away from a 'Cash Bank' to 'Cashless'. The first of these branches to go cashless were Malahide and Dun Laoghaire branches. By the middle of 2011 National Irish Bank became a completely cashless bank and no longer accepts cash for lodgments. The bank announced that they would be looking at possible third parties to accept cash lodgments. Further on from the announcement that National Irish Bank would be moving towards a cash-free operation, An Post was announced as the third party who will accept lodgments on behalf of NIB. This came into effect from 1 November. It meant that all National Irish Bank customers will be able to lodge cash they may have in any An Post office around the country, currently there are over 1,200 An Post branches in ROI.


Reintegration with Northern Bank and rebrand

On 10 May 2012, Danske Bank announced that Northern Bank and National Irish Bank would be merged on 1 June 2012, under the Northern Bank management team and the Danske Bank name, effectively reversing the separation between the two. The rebrand was completed on 18 November 2012. At the time the bank closed its 27 branches to focus on corporate and private clients, subsequently pulling out of the personal/retail banking market completely.


Tiger robbery, August 2006

The
Killester Killester () is a small residential largely affluent suburb of Dublin, Ireland on the Northside of the city in the Dublin 3 and Dublin 5 postal districts. It was the site of a church and convent or monastery centuries ago, and later a small vill ...
, Dublin branch (known as Howth Road branch) of National Irish Bank was the scene of a 'tiger robbery' on 29 August 2006 when a 23-year-old employee was kidnapped by an armed gang. The bank handed over a ransom of €270,000 without informing or involving the
Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...
. The Garda Síochána heavily criticised this action, stating that it leaves the bank exposed in the future to replica attacks. However, the Howth Road branch has since become a cashless branch.


Closure of personal banking

On 31 October 2013 Danske Bank announced it would be withdrawing all personal banking services in the Republic of Ireland on a phased basis in the first half of 2014.


See also

*
List of companies of Ireland This is a list of notable companies based in Ireland, or subsidiaries according to their sector. It includes companies from the entire island. The state of the Republic of Ireland covers five-sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of th ...


References


External links

*
Report on Investigations into the Affairs of National Irish Bank Limited and National Irish Bank Financial Services LimitedDanske Bank NIB Acquisition site
{{Authority control Banks of Ireland Financial services companies based in Dublin (city) Irish people convicted of tax crimes Banks established in 1986
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
Irish companies established in 1986 Irish subsidiaries of foreign companies