AIB has acquired €4.2bn of Ulster Bank corporate and commercial loans, with a number of these confirmed by AIB to be farm loans.

“A number of these performing commercial loans are to the agricultural sector,” an AIB spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal on Monday.

The amount of farmers and farm loans affected in the sale is unknown at the moment.

The acquisition of the loans remains subject to customary regulatory approvals, following which, AIB intends to migrate the loan book on a phased basis, it said.

It plans to do this “over a period of 12 to 18 months to ensure optimised customer outcomes.”

In February, Ulster Bank confirmed it would be exiting the Irish banking market. It has 1.1m customers in Ireland, 2,800 staff and 88 branches nationwide.

IFA analysis previously stated that 20,000 farming customers will be affected by the bank’s exit, with those farmers holding a mix of loans and current account facilities.

As Money Mentor Margaret Nolan reported earlier this year, Ulster Bank customers with loans or mortgages would likely see their loans sold onto a new lender.

This will have little impact, with the terms and conditions of the loan staying the same, i.e the interest rate and repayment terms.

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