Where are the Big International Banks?

I just got a polite and speedy reply from HSBC in Dublin saying they don't do any banking there, and directing me to the Newry Branch.
That's what I expected.
But still - I just don't get it. A Capital City in a European nation with ZERO International Banking presence. Yet a sleepy backwater border town deserves a branch of one of the largest global banks!
There HAS to be more to this than just demographics or 'cost'. When a major bank can afford millions (billions?) in salaries and bonuses to staff and management but can't stick a corner shop branch in a European Capital city....jokes about 'lessons learned from experience' and the 'excessive cost of a banking network' are just nonsensical.
Whats the REAL reason?
Is it Irish Bank Cartelism in fact?

Starbuck said:

Is it Irish Bank Cartelism in fact?

Click to expand...

It could very well be. Remember Tesco tried to get into Ireland and failed miserably. They ended up having to buy Quinnsworth to get into Ireland successfully. Maybe the same will happen with the banks, someone will buy AIB.

Steven
http://www.bluewaterfp.ie (www.bluewaterfp.ie)

I think your Pension Admins are not complying with SEPA, if you have a SEPA capable account anywhere in the area where SEPA is applicable they must pay you into that one. Can't the bank that you use in your neck of the woods help you setting up a SEPA capable (IBAN/BIC) account someone in the SEPA zone? I had this discussion with several companies recently when I moved to a German Bank account, sure it's slightly more complicated to set up direct debits (paper form) but there should not be a problem to pay you into a bank account anywhere in the SEPA area, special as most transactions now use IBAN/BIC anyhow and the banks can not charge more than they could for a local transfer. I would go back to the Pensions Admin and clarify it.

There are several international banks that open non resident accounts outside Ireland.

Seems to me that on the face of things its probably down to cost versus benefit for the banks but Starbuck you do make some interesting points. Surely it aint that difficult for an international bank to establish some sort of a presence in ireland even it were only online (initially) and to tap into the increasing discontent that irish people have with irish banks. Surely there is money to be made in ireland by the Intl banks......it does beg the questions why are they not entering the irish market?

To say its down to costs/regulations etc is a cop out....becasue there has to be money to be made if its done in a certain way and regulations should facilitate not hinder them from coming here..


kbc are here though and i bank with them since august and am very happy with them so far....similar to you starbuck i have a strong dislike for aib/boi (not necessarily becasue they cost more, its harder to explain than that, i think of them as just a greedy grave train inefficient organisation and that annoys me - simply dont want to have to deal with them or give them my business).

if you were to consider this question in the context of another industry such as a DIY store or something and if all the DIY stores in ireland were irish bar 1 (kbc) and if globally there were a lot of huge world renowned international diy stores (hsbc, lloyds, bnp, citi, credit agricole, santander, ING deutch bank, danske, etc) you would definitly, as a consumer, want these intl stores to come here from a competiton perspective and you would wonder why they are not if they were not.

jim said:

Surely it aint that difficult for an international bank to establish some sort of a presence in ireland even it were only online (initially) and to tap into the increasing discontent that irish people have with irish banks. Surely there is money to be made in ireland by the Intl banks......it does beg the questions why are they not entering the irish market?

Click to expand...

Because retail banking is a loss maker - just have a look at the accounts of the big banks. You only get into retail banking if the target market holds a lot of cash that can be scooped up and funnelled into your investing and asset management business - that is not Ireland!

maybe retail banking is loss making (I dont know) and maybe there is a lot of money to be scooped up (who knows for certain).

Forgetting about particular niches ie retail banking for a second. the question I ask and I think the OP is asking is: Why dont some (or all) of the big intl banks enter the irish market?

if retail banking is loss making then why is there any banks at all in ireland?? There must be other aspects that are making money so lets not use the fact that retail banking is supposedly loss making as a reason here. although it may be true that shouldnt stop banks from entering the market. banks currently exist here and make lots of money therefore theres money to be made therefore where are all the intl banks.