KBC Bank has from today begun writing to its Irish customers telling them that they have six months to close their accounts, as the bank prepares to exit from the Irish market.
Letters will be issued on a rolling basis over the remainder of this year and into early 2023 in order to make the process staggered and as orderly as possible.
KBC said it will provide reminders to customers during this period through a combination of letters, emails and SMS messages.
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They said in a statement: “It is the bank’s intention that the closure of all accounts is managed in a careful and efficient manner keeping customers informed throughout."
The bank has 130,000 current accounts that are active or have a balance in Ireland, and more than 50,000 of these customers will need to open a new account, the bank has estimated.
It comes as KBC has agreed to sell most of its non-performing mortgage portfolio and Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) DAC is now the legal title holder of the majority of these loans.
Current accounts are not part of the transaction with Bank of Ireland and KBC has said it will exit the Irish market irrespective of the outcome of the regulatory approvals process for the Bank of Ireland transaction.
Meanwhile, KBC has said that it will not charge maintenance fees on current accounts from the point at which it commences issuing notice to customers of their account closure and this means they will not incur any extra fees and charges for having two accounts open at once.
The bank has said it will work with customers who cannot afford to pay their overdraft within the deadline to come up with an individual solution.
There are approximately 7,000 customers with overdraft limits attached to their current accounts.
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