1989Bank of Scotland (Ireland) (BoSI) is established, but the bank does not gain traction in the Irish market until the late 1990s, when it makes a series of acquisitions and establishes a reputation as an alternative lender for small businesses.
1999The bank enters the mortgage market, operating through the intermediary market and heralding a spell of competitive activity among homeloan providers.
2001The bank introduces the concept of tracker mortgages, a deal which turned out to be so good for borrowers that, by the end of the decade, most lenders were losing money on them. The bank also spearheaded the arrival on the Irish market of personal finance products such as interest-only mortgages and equity release loans.
March 2005The bank announces a €120 million deal to buy 52 ESB shops and the loan book from its white goods finance business. Chief executive Mark Duffy accuses the established Irish banks of charging customers too much and promises Saturday banking.
January 2006The bank's first retail branches open and later in the year it launches savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards and more mortgage products. But there are delays in the launch of a personal current account.
November 2006The bank rebrands its retail business to Halifax. This is what the "H" stood for in its UK parent, HBOS.
May 2007The bank finally launches a full current account and online banking service. After announcing a 14 per cent increase in first-half profits, Duffy says the business is "well positioned to benefit from the opportunities in the Irish market".
August 2007The credit crunch wreaks havoc on financial markets, starting a snowball of writedowns at BoSI's heavily indebted parent.
September 2008At the height of the global financial crisis, British prime minister Gordon Brown engineers a merger of HBOS with the more financially solid Lloyds, forming the mammoth Lloyds Banking Group.
February 2010After months of rumours about its future in the Irish market, the bank announces it will close the Halifax retail banking business, including its 44 retail branches and customer service centre in Dundalk.
Halifax retail products are withdrawn from the market. The BoSI intermediary business will also shut.
About 750 people will be made redundant.
