Ulster Bank

Ulster Bank Limited

Type	Private - Subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Industry	Financial services
Founded	Belfast, Ireland (1836) as the Ulster Banking Company
Headquarters	Dublin, Ireland
Key people	Jim Brown (MD), Richard Donnan, Robert Gallagher
Products	Various banking products
Employees	6405 (2007)
Website	www.ulsterbank.ie for RoI or www.ulsterbank.com for NI

Ulster Bank Headquarters, Dublin

Ulster Bank (Irish: Banc Uladh) is a large commercial bank, and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities, Ulster Bank Limited (UBL - registered in Northern Ireland) and Ulster Bank Ireland Limited (UBIL - registered in the Republic of Ireland). The Groups headquarters (and UBIL's) is located in George's Quay, Dublin in the Republic of Ireland whilst the official headquarters of UBL is in Donegall Square East, Belfast, in Northern Ireland, and it maintains a large sector of the financial services in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The Bank is a subsidiary of National Westminster Bank, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group since 2000. It has 146 branches in the Republic of Ireland and 90 in Northern Ireland with over 1,200 non-charging ATMs. The Group has over 6,000 employees and over 1.9 million Clients.

Corporate identity

From 1968 until 2005, Ulster Bank's logo was three chevrons - identical to that of the National Westminster Bank, its owner. The bank changed to the RBS logo and typeface style in October 2005. The bank is one of the four banks that issue Pound Sterling banknotes in Northern Ireland.

Banking services

Ulster Bank offers Visa Debit cards to customers with their current accounts, having previously issued Maestro (formerly Switch) and Laser debit cards to NI and ROI customers respectively, in addition to other financial services. It launched 15 new commitments to its retail customers in September 2010

Ulster Bank, Donegall Square East, Belfast, December 2009

Banknotes

A £20 Ulster Bank note

Main article: Banknotes of Northern Ireland

See also: Banknotes of the pound sterling

In common with the other Big Four banks of Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank retains the right to issue its own banknotes. These are pound sterling notes and equal in value to Bank of England notes, and should not be confused with banknotes of the former Irish pound.

Ulster Bank's current notes all share the same design of a view of Belfast harbour flanked by landscape views; the design of the reverse is dominated by the bank's coats-of-arms. The principal difference between the denominations is their colour and size. Most recent notes incorporate the NatWest chevron, as previously used by the Ulster Bank; however, the most recent issue of the 10 and 20 pound note incorporates their new logo, which is based on that of the Royal Bank of Scotland

The commemorative George Best five-pound note issued by Ulster Bank

• 5 pound note, grey
• 10 pound note, blue-green
• 20 pound note, purple
• 50 pound note, blue

In November 2006 Ulster Bank issued its first commemorative banknote - an issue of one million £5 notes commemorating the first anniversary of the death of the former Northern Ireland and Manchester United footballer, George Best. This was the first Ulster Bank banknote to incorporate their new logo, similar to the logo of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and the entire issue was taken by collectors within hours of becoming available in bank branches.

History

Ulster Bank premises, The Quays, Waterford, Ireland. 1928.

Note destruction

In 2002 three Ulster Bank employees were arrested on charges of theft and money laundering. The three were responsible for the destruction of old banknotes at the bank's former Waring Street cash centre. Between November 2001 and February 2002 they were accused of stealing approximately £900,000 of used banknotes designated for disposal. The money was then placed in various bank and building society accounts. On 23 January 2004 the men were jailed for two and a half years for the theft of £770,000. Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr criticised the bank's security measures during the trial.

First Active

In 2003/2004, Ulster Bank Group purchased First Active, Ireland's oldest building society, for €887 million. In 2009, the First Active branch network and business of several hundred thousand savers and borrowers was merged with Ulster Bank, and the brand name was retired in 2010.

Sponsorship

On 8 February 2008, Ulster Bank Group Chief Executive, Cormac McCarthy, announced a three-year sponsorship deal worth over £1m for the Belfast Festival at Queen's. It was hailed as a "new dawn" for the festival which had been suffering underfunding.

Ulster Bank was the first overall sponsor of The Balmoral Show in 2009, Northern Ireland's largest agricultural show.

Ulster Bank announced official sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in April 2008.

Structured Products

Ulster Bank is used by RBS to deposit funds invested through the popular Royal Deposit Plan; one of RBS current structured investments.

External links

• Ulster Bank Group
• Ulster Bank Limited Registered in Northern Ireland, No. R733
• Ulster Bank Ireland Limited Registered in the Republic of Ireland, No. 25766