BANK of Ireland is closing its wholesale branch in New York and transferring its US-based corporate banking and treasury business to the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin.
The branch has about $1 billion in total assets, made up mostly of syndicated loans. Most of these assets will be repatriated to the IFSC, a bank spokesman said. The treasury operation will transfer easily to the existing treasury operation in the IFSC, while corporate clients of the New York branch already have links with other parts of the group, he said. Hours of operation at the IFSC are to be extended to cater for the requirements of clients with US interests.
But the closure will result in 26 redundancies among the 33 staff in the New York office. Seven employees will relocate to the IFSC. Bank of Ireland said the decision to close the branch followed a strategic review of operations which concluded that a comparable service could be provided to the corporate and treasury clients from the IFSC base.
"Technological advances in recent years have greatly reduced the significance of geographical location for such operations," according to the chief executive of group corporate and treasury operations, Mr Brian Goggin.
The closure of the wholesale branch on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan follows the bank's closure three years ago of its retail branch in the city. But Bank of Ireland intends to maintain its international asset management operation in Greenwich, Connecticut.
