Approximately 10% or €420m of the €4.2bn loan book acquired by Allied Irish Bank (AIB) from Ulster Bank, involves larger agribusinesses, the Irish Farmers Journal understands.

The deal between Ulster Bank, which is to cease operations in Ireland, and AIB was struck in June 2021 and sees AIB acquire €4.2bn of performing Ulster Bank corporate and commercial loans.

While the size of these corporate and commercial loans is typically greater than €2m, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that a number of larger agribusinesses and farms, which may not meet this threshold, are included within the acquisition.

Agreement

Meanwhile, Permanent TSB (PTSB) has also entered an agreement with Ulster Bank to acquire €7.6bn of its bank retail, SME and asset finance business. The transaction includes the performing micro-SME loan book of Ulster Bank, valued at €230m, some of which is understood to involve smaller- and medium-sized farms and agribusinesses.

'Streamlined'

To support farmers as their financial affairs are transferred, AIB says it has “streamlined the business current account opening process” and created a dedicated business account opening team, while PTSB says it is “currently recruiting over 200 new colleagues across our branch and operations teams to support the increase in customer demand”.

However, IFA farm business committee chair Rose Mary McDonagh said that certain debit and credit transactions into farmers’ accounts will have to be switched manually as third parties will want to deal with the customer directly.

She said “small things” like farmers’ subscriptions to herd management apps or larger electronic payments, such as those from marts, may not be included in any automatic transfer process.

McDonagh said: “This issue is not of the farmer’s making. All the stakeholders involved in this need to step up to the plate to make sure the [loan transfer] process is seamless.”

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