On Monday, Bank of Ireland announced it is to close 103 branches from September.

The move follows Ulster Bank’s announcement that it will withdraw from the Irish market.

Many of the closures will affect rural towns and villages, although some of the services may be provided by An Post instead.

Farm organisations have described the Bank of Ireland move as "a slap in the face" to farmers and rural communities who rely on local branches for banking, and condemned the “abandonment” of rural communities and the elderly.

How will these moves affect you and your day-to-day banking needs?

Have your say in this week's Irish Farmers Journal by telling us what you think here:

Bank structure

Bank of Ireland has loans totalling €1.7bn issued to farmers, foresters and the fisheries sector on the island, with agriculture accounting for the majority of these loans.

Of this total, Bank of Ireland has loans to agriculture totalling €1.5bn in the Republic of Ireland, with the remaining €200m of loans with customers in Northern Ireland.

The bank accounts for just over 50% of the €700m in new lending issued to farmers every year, which is roughly €350m issued in new loans to farmers each year. It has 40,000 farmer customers

While it is not the largest sector for new lending, Bank of Ireland says agriculture is a key pillar of its business loan book.

The banks says about 80% of its farmer customer base is located in the bottom half of the country, with the vast majority of lending issued to dairy and beef farmers.

The average loan size to farmers is quite small at just €25,000 reflecting the low level of borrowings across Irish farming.

The bank said it remains committed to agriculture and that it will continue to carry out over 1,000 farm visits every year to meet to farmer customers.