Irish banking - why so antiquated ?

Sangre

ellscurr wrote:

When I worked for a bank here they would auto clear salary cheques (you could just say it was a salary cheque as very often salary cheques aren't business cheques anyway) and cheques drawn on their own branch from another account.

Most tellers will (and should) check the account history to see if the cheque has been lodged a few times before without any problems.

pow wow

Sangre wrote:

Most tellers will (and should) check the account history to see if the cheque has been lodged a few times before without any problems.

We were never told/trained to do that. I won't mention which bank I worked for lol.

sheepshagger

Banks arn't interested in spending money upgrading their systems. . .they also are not interested in allowing competition in the Current account market. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) was the first bank to get access to the clearing system for YEARS. . .why was this??? Because they protect their own.

As for the Financial Regulator. . .don't get me started. . .they are a pack of lazy, backward, out of touch, fuddy duddies. . .jobs for life with flexi hours. . .with no idea how a modern bank should be run.

If I had my way I'd blow up the ugly building on Dame Street with all the usless fockers inside it. . .. (Rant over, apologies. . .I work for a bank and they are unbelivably bad)

McSpud

The simple answer to everything wrong in Irish Banks is the fact AIB & BOI have massive market share.

Its no surprise free banking, tracker mortgages, better savings accounts have been brought in by AIB & BOI since the smaller operators have challenged them. Do we all have a duty to move away from AIB/BOI to create a better market?

Sonnenblumen

smashey wrote:

Don't forget cheques taking four days to clear. WTF? In Singapore, if you lodge a cheque, it clears after 2.00pm the following day.

and Singapore also has huge numbers of migrant Indian workers living in destitute squalor within a 2 mile of city centre. I'd doubt if any of them has ever handled a cheque!

Sonnenblumen

sheepshagger wrote:

Banks arn't interested in spending money upgrading their systems. . .they also are not interested in allowing competition in the Current account market. Bank of Scotland (Ireland) was the first bank to get access to the clearing system for YEARS. . .why was this??? Because they protect their own.

As for the Financial Regulator. . .don't get me started. . .they are a pack of lazy, backward, out of touch, fuddy duddies. . .jobs for life with flexi hours. . .with no idea how a modern bank should be run.


If I had my way I'd blow up the ugly building on Dame Street with all the usless fockers inside it. . .. (Rant over, apologies. . .I work for a bank and they are unbelivably bad)

What? A self confessed prisoner!!

parsi

stepbar wrote:

I tell you what Parsi,

Here's the names of the CEO's of the Irish banks known to me

AIB - Eugene Sheehy
Anglo - David Drumm
BOI - Brian Goggin
IL&P - Denis Casey
NIB - Andrew Healy
Halifax - Mark Duffy
Rabodirect - Greg McAweeney

Write to them and tell us how you get on.

And if you get no joy write to the financial regulator. Here's the address

Mary O'Dea
Financial Regulator
P.O. Box 9138
College Green
Dublin 2.

Maybe it would be better to call them in front of a Dail Committee and ask them to explain themselves ?

smashey

Sonnenblumen wrote:

and Singapore also has huge numbers of migrant Indian workers living in destitute squalor within a 2 mile of city centre. I'd doubt if any of them has ever handled a cheque!

What has this got to do with the time needed for a cheque to clear?

stepbar

parsi wrote:

Maybe it would be better to call them in front of a Dail Committee and ask them to explain themselves ?

Maybe it might be better for YOU to put YOUR gripes down on paper and copy each CEO. Maybe you could then present your findings here. I have no gripes with the Irish banking system (even before I started working in a bank). Bitching on boards won't get you too far.

Finally I will refer you to what Sean Fitzpatrick, Chairman of Anglo, said about regulation during the week - http://www.rte.ie/business/2007/0621/odce.html

Sangre

parsi wrote:

Maybe it would be better to call them in front of a Dail Committee and ask them to explain themselves ?

Hopefully we can finally get a list of all the laws they've broken as well.

stepbar

Sangre wrote:

Hopefully we can finally get a list of all the laws they've broken as well.

Yeah, I'd love to see that list too.....

parsi

stepbar wrote:

Maybe it might be better for YOU to put YOUR gripes down on paper and copy each CEO. Maybe you could then present your findings here. I have no gripes with the Irish banking system (even before I started working in a bank). Bitching on boards won't get you too far.

Strange how my gripes are actually similar to so many others gripes.
Individual gripes get ignored (unless you're CJ Haughey and complaining to
AIB) but group gripes get a better hearing.

Finally I will refer you to what Sean Fitzpatrick, Chairman of Anglo, said about regulation during the week - http://www.rte.ie/business/2007/0621/odce.html

Gee Fitzies statement about regulation was so surprising - "we make money
so you should leave us alone". Maybe an annual proof of innocence statement
would be worthwhile - AIB could state that they didn't rip-off anyone on
exchange rates or wrongly calculate interest, the BOI could confirm that none of their bosses looked at
dodgy sites, NIB could confirm that they no longer promote tax evasion or wrongly calculate interest (to their benefit)...

stepbar

parsi wrote:

Strange how my gripes are actually similar to so many others gripes.
Individual gripes get ignored (unless you're CJ Haughey and complaining to
AIB) but group gripes get a better hearing.

We'll then you should take your gripes to the Financial Regulator so?

Gee Fitzies statement about regulation was so surprising - "we make money
so you should leave us alone". Maybe an annual proof of innocence statement
would be worthwhile - AIB could state that they didn't rip-off anyone on
exchange rates or wrongly calculate interest, the BOI could confirm that none of their bosses looked at
dodgy sites <Eh, what has this got to do with anything?> , NIB could confirm that they no longer promote tax evasion or wrongly calculate interest (to their benefit)...

Maybe its time to close this thread mods? because this is getting ridiculus....

Parsi, If you have nothing of real substance to add, I would say nothing at all.

parsi

Can't take criticism ? A few people have mentioned their gripes on this board and if you generally look through postings you will find that there are a goodly number of people who have encountered issues with the banks.

Many of these issues are small fry to the banks (and the regulator) but add up to a sense of frustration (at best) and distrust (at worse). The banks are a monolithic cartel and smartass answers like "write to the CEO" only serve to perpetuate the image of them as being organisations that frankly don't give a damn and frankly don't care who knows it.

At least Ryanair screw you royally but give you a cheap flight

stepbar

parsi wrote:

Can't take criticism ? A few people have mentioned their gripes on this board and if you generally look through postings you will find that there are a goodly number of people who have encountered issues with the banks.

Many of these issues are small fry to the banks (and the regulator) but add up to a sense of frustration (at best) and distrust (at worse). The banks are a monolithic cartel and smartass answers like "write to the CEO" only serve to perpetuate the image of them as being organisations that frankly don't give a damn and frankly don't care who knows it.

At least Ryanair screw you royally but give you a cheap flight

And exactly what do you want from a bank? Free money? You come on here and spout a load of crap that has no real relivance to anything. And yet you give no specific details of any problems that you've encountered or any details of the transactions that you need to do regularly. All banks give you internet banking of one shape or form and you still are complaining. And as well as that we provide the customer with quick lodge facilities. You can even apply for a loan / mortgage etc over the phone - in most cases the whole process can be done without you having to come into the bank. Banks are falling over backwards to serve customers.

TBH If that's the best argument you can come up with, I'll just give up :rolleyes:

BuffyBot

I'd suggest both sides calm it down or the thread will get locked

stepbar

I agree. I suggested it a few posts earlier. Parsi seems to have a chip on his shoulder.

parsi

stepbar wrote:

I agree. I suggested it a few posts earlier. Parsi seems to have a chip on his shoulder.

I have been overcharged for Credit Card interest by AIB.

I have been overcharged for car loan interest by NIB (this independent of the Inspectors report).

All of these overchargings which were notified years after the violations with no actual impact on bank staff themselves.

Like other posters I have identified the shortcomings of the banks in relation to customer service and indeed general probity.

I don't think that constitutes a chip. It might be something that a dedicated banker mightn't like to hear but it's rooted in verifiable fact and not hearsay.

But anyway it's almost like arguing with an Apple fanboy... :rolleyes: so I suggest that the thread grind to a graceful halt until the next time someone runs into an issue with their bank.

dotsman

parsi wrote:

At least Ryanair screw you royally but give you a cheap flight

These days, personal banking is free, so what are you expecting exactly? Over your life (I have no idea how old you are), how much profit do you think your bank has really made from you? The only profitable customers are those who borrow large sums of money over long terms (multiple mortgages, business loans etc). As regards payment systems, the only time has full control is when all parties in the transaction are within the same bank. AIB (probably most banks, I'm really only familiar with AIB) have instant transfers between AIB customers. And the suggestions of a cartel must be a joke!!! The banking sector is probably the only sector in Ireland where there is any real competition. Hence why banking is so cheap in Ireland (compared to other Western countries)

stepbar

parsi wrote:

I have been overcharged for Credit Card interest by AIB.

I have been overcharged for car loan interest by NIB (this independent of the Inspectors report).

All of these overchargings which were notified years after the violations with no actual impact on bank staff themselves.

Like other posters I have identified the shortcomings of the banks in relation to customer service and indeed general probity.

I don't think that constitutes a chip. It might be something that a dedicated banker mightn't like to hear but it's rooted in verifiable fact and not hearsay.

Ah, 40 odd posts later :rolleyes: Your argument might have had more credibility had you have mentioned this earlier. So let me ask, how much are we talking about here? 50, 500 eur??? . In fairness, I say the amounts involved were pittance (seeing that you failed to mention any figures). Anyhow, you got your money back so what is the problem? In fairness, the banks are not the only ones who get it wrong when it comes to overcharging and yet the banks get all the headlines.

TBH, I think you have a real chip on your shoulder (you only have to look at the BOI comment above :rolleyes:); maybe its time to lose the attidute towards the banks.

BuffyBot

My head hurts. Enough.