Ulster Bank is the only contender to overtake Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland to become the nation's biggest lender because it has the backing of owner Royal Bank of Scotland and a fast pace of growth, group chief executive Cormac McCarthy claims.
The group, which includes First Active and Ulster Bank on both sides of the Border, has grown by the size of a small player in the domestic banking market over the past three years, Mr McCarthy told members of the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants.
During that period, the size of Ulster Bank's assets increased 130 per cent to about €60 billion and the lender took on 1,200 more staff to become the second-largest employer on the island after Tesco, the chief executive said. It has almost 2 million customers and is close to becoming the largest operator of ATMs.
While new entrants to the Irish banking market are often perceived to be the drivers of increasing competition, most are arms of global banking institutions," Mr McCarthy said.
Ulster Bank can fulfil its ambition of becoming Ireland's number one bank because being part of Royal Bank of Scotland enables it to offer customers access to more competitive and innovative products, he said. Its parent group is an example of how a regional bank can challenge the dominant players in a market, according to Mr McCarthy.
