Ulster Bank to hand back Irish banking licence at the end of the week
Ulster Bank
Ireland confirmed on Monday that it will return its banking licence to the
Central Bank
at the end of the week, after 165 years in the Republic.
The company, which is a unit of the NatWest Group in the UK, will be renamed Ulydien DAC and will operate as a retail credit firm as it continues a 'phased and orderly' withdrawal of its operations.
Philip Duff, who has held a number of senior roles in the bank for over two decades, will become managing director of Ulydien from the weekend.
Remaining customers will receive a letter advising them of the changes and do not need to take any action at this time, Ulster Bank said.
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'Our staff will be available to assist with any queries from our few remaining customers and beneficiaries,' it said. 'Ulydien will be regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and customers will retain their legal and regulatory protections.'
The Irish Times previously reported that Jane Howard, who has led Ulster Bank since 2018, is set to become chief executive of NatWest's RBS International division at the start of July.
The Central Bank last year authorised a new subsidiary of Ulster Bank, called Ulydien Trust Company, to act as a service company over a trust set up to hold unclaimed funds of former customers' closed accounts and products, according to its latest annual report.
Migration of these funds to the trust ensures that unclaimed customer balances are safeguarded and available to beneficial owners should they seek to reclaim them in the future, the report said.
Unclaimed funds of less than €100 in individual accounts were given to charity, though the owners retain a right to reclaim their money.
Last September, Ulster Bank transferred to AIB the last €1 billion of the €5 billion of tracker loans it had agreed to sell to the bank. It also completed the sale of its final home loans book, a portfolio of €400 million so-called offset mortgages, that same month to ICS Mortgages's parent, Dilosk.
Ulster Bank's assets, which stood at €31 billion when NatWest decided in early 2021 to wind down the unit, fell by 75 per cent over last year to €516 million. Most of the remaining assets comprised money due from holding companies and fellow subsidiaries of NatWest.
Ulster Bank has paid €1.59 billion of dividends to its UK parent over the past two years as it sought to free up much of its remaining surplus capital. It had a little over €300 million of equity on its balance sheet at the end of December, after it also racked up €707 million of net losses over the past two years as part of the wind-down.
The lender received an effective £15 billion (€17.6 billion) bailout from British taxpayers during the financial crisis. The rescue bill equated to a third of the total UK government's £45 billion 2008 bailout of NatWest, back when the group was known as Royal Bank of Scotland.
Ulster Bank paid €3.5 billion of dividends to its parent between 2016 and 2019.
Adding the dividends paid over the past nine years and the remaining equity suggests NatWest will end up recovering only about 30 per cent of Ulster Bank's rescue bill.
Ulster Bank had a 2,800-strong workforce when NatWest decided to wind down the business. Its staff numbers, including temporary employees, had fallen to 100 by the end of last year. Temporary workers averaged 21 last year.
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