Basically, to provide a quick explanation, Ulster Bank NI and Ulster Bank ROI were two closely interlinked operations, so the closure of Ulster Bank ROI means that a restructure is automatically necessary for NI too, even though Ulster Bank is going to continue there on a day to day basis much as before.
Ultimately, Ulster Bank Ireland DAC (the holding company under which Ulster ROI operates) owns 100% of Ulster Bank Limited, the company which operates Ulster Bank NI. Ulster Bank Ireland DAC is then owned in turn by NatWest Plc.
There is no need for this complicated arrangement if Ulster Bank ROI is closing, so Ulster Bank NI accounts are simply being legally transferred to NatWest, with Ulster Bank continuing to be used like now as the brand, but in future as a brand of NatWest Plc directly.
Ulster Bank Limited has note issuing rights in Northern Ireland, and via legal instrument these are also being transferred to NatWest. The notes will continue to be branded as Ulster, but they will legally become NatWest-issued notes.
It will make little difference to customers overall, or that’s the idea.
Thanks again - a very concise summary and I appreciate you taking the time to put it together. And as @j06 has pointed out, leaving only 3 retail banks in the ROI which I think was the main focus of the story I didn’t get to read properly. Ripe for new entrants.
RBS have now also added support, NatWest is still coming soon. Edit: Now available!
Banks supporting cheque imaging in-app include:
Starling HSBC & First Direct Lloyds, Bank of Scotland & Halifax Barclays All Virgin Money brands (Virgin Money, Yorkshire Bank, Clydesdale Bank & B) RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank, NatWest International & Isle of Man Bank
Banks not yet offering support:
Monzo TSB Santander Nationwide Metro Bank M&S Bank Co-operative Bank & Smile Tesco Bank Danske Bank Bank of Ireland AIB
As a new Monzo account holder who has so far just moaned about stuff (sorry) I wanted to make a quick comment to say that, from my experience, the ability to pop a check in the post for free has been awesome! I moved to Monzo because my high street bank closed all my local branches. I had a cheque sitting around for ages that my bank kept telling me I needed to go to ‘my local branch’ to cash.
Joining Monzo gave me the chance to just chuck it in an envelope and see what happened. Also… the cheque had ‘expired’ - it was older than the three months it stated it was valid for. Getting the updates through my account notifications meant that I knew what was happening at each stage and today I am £180 better off! I’m very happy as it is likely I would not have cashed the cheque if I’d remained with my old bank.
Admittedly, I get very few cheques - maybe one a year or so. Having said all that… taking a photo would definitely be easier
Yes - I tried to imply that by putting ‘expired’ in inverted commas. The cheque was from the DVLA and stamped, “valid for 3 months” which could be enough to cause issues under some circumstances. I mentioned it to emphasise that the Monzo process was unaffected by the inconsistency.
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Anarchist
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I think most banks allow this. I know HSBC allow cheques to be posted to the local branch because my Dad posted one a few weeks ago.
It does make you wonder how many cheques they receive - Freepost costs Monzo each time it is used (or more accurately, each time a Freepost envelope is delivered to Monzo via RM)
Just a cost/confusion-cutting exercise for an insignificant amount or a cost-cutting exercise for a huge amount?
With no doubt of your personal experience, in my 45 years of using the Royal Mail postal service, both in middle-of-nowhere Somerset, and Zone 2 Inner London for the past 27 years I’ve never had anything go missing (inbound – that I know about, that mattered – or outbound)
How much stuff is getting lost, or delayed for more than a couple of days?
There were a few complaints here how sometimes RM would think the return address was the to address as just Freepost monzo is small and short, so maybe that was coming more of an issue.
I struggled for a few months with posting cheques, it was horrific. Now do it thru Starling… its fantastic. Monzo should have updated the official advice to… “use Starling” for paying in your cheques to Monzo.
I don’t really think it’s fair to judge any service’s quality (especially one which is so heavily dependent on human productivity) during a global pandemic.
Starling
Monzo
we’ve just found that it’s not always the best, or quickest, experience for customers.
