The IFA is seeking an urgent meeting with senior Ulster Bank executive staff after the bank’s plans were revealed to dispose of “non-performing” loans in its specialist loans arrears unit to undisclosed third parties.

Farmers and small business owners across the island have been receiving phone calls and letters recently from Ulster Bank relating to outstanding loans.

In at least some cases, customers are being presented with three options – that the borrower repay the full amount, refinance elsewhere, or the loan may be repackaged for sale to a third party by Ulster Bank.

“Farmers are shocked at the announcement and the IFA has demanded an urgent meeting with management. The IFA has voiced farmers’ concerns that the move will force them to deal with unknown third party funds which have little or no knowledge or understanding of their business and the farming sector,” said IFA farm business chair Tom Doyle.

Doyle said the move by Ulster Bank raises “serious questions” about its commitment to farmers.

“The IFA continues to call for the fair treatment of farmers who are in financial difficulty, but who have a viable underlying enterprise. The banks must work with these customers to find long-term sustainable solutions that work for all parties. This move by Ulster Bank raises serious questions about its commitment to these farmer customers who require suitable restructuring arrangements to bridge temporary cashflow and repayment issues,” he said.

’Seriously concerned’

In response to the news, Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president Ian Marshall said he was “seriously concerned”, saying that the move could fracture relations between the bank, the farming community and the food industry.

“If this is the case, it is unacceptable and goes against all the assurances we have had in discussions with all the banks about how to handle the crisis farming families are going through,” said Marshall. He added that this approach, even if it involves only a small number of farms, overturns years when banks recognised that farming went through occasional tough times, but was ultimately good business.

“The security farmers offer, with land, is second to none – and as family businesses, they have a track record of paying off debts and not walking, away as other businesses did through the recession,” he said.

Marshall has contacted Ulster Bank and the agriculture minister Michelle O’Neill to raise his concerns. He is also seeking an early meeting with the bank.

“Everyone recognises that farming is going through tough times. We understand that it is frustrating for banks to deal with these problems, but at the same time, they have done very well out of farming in the past and will do so again. What they are doing over these cases is akin to kicking someone when they are down, and with many farming families in a fragile mental state because of the problems they face, the bank must be aware of the potential consequences of its actions,” the UFU president warned.

Ulster Bank has an estimated 2,200 farmer customers in Northern Ireland, where it is the second-largest lender to the farming sector.

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