Bank of Scotland (Ireland) is to create 300 jobs at a new customer service centre in Dundalk, Co Louth, with recruitment to start almost immediately.
The bank is currently in a major expansionary phase as competition in the retail banking sector intensifies.
In March the bank announced it would open more than 50 new branches by the summer of next year following a €120 million deal with the ESB.
The bank bought 52 ESB shops located throughout the State for about €40 million. It paid another €80 million to acquire the loan book of the ESB retail business. This consisted of about 170,000 ESB customers who have bought goods on long-term deals from ESB. It later acknowledged that not all the branches would be retained for retail banking purposes.
The move followed the arrival into the Irish market in December of Danish group Danske. It bought National Irish Bank (NIB) and Northern Bank from National Australia Bank for about € 1.44 billion.
Yesterday the Taoiseach Mr Ahern officially opened the bank's new headquarters in St Stephen's Green in Dublin and made the announcement of the expansion into Dundalk.
He said when the company came to Ireland in 1994 it employed twenty people. Mr Ahern said the new jobs reflected Ireland's ability to create and sustain quality employment.
"Back in 1994, I had the honour, as Minister for Finance at the time, to open your first offices in Ireland. That was when you employed less than 20 people and had some €100 million in assets. How times have changed and progressed since then," he said.
The expansion was good news for Ireland and provided a great boost in terms of Ireland's ongoing ability to create and sustain quality employment, he added.
The Taoiseach said the economy had grown in a similar fashion to the bank. "It is well poised to continue on a sustainable growth path," he explained..
In Dundalk the news was welcomed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern who said: "It is a clear statement of the quality of workers, infrastructure and strategic position of the town." Almost 53,000 people are employed in the banking, insurance and building society sector in the Republic, he said.
