BANKING in Limerick is set to become significantly more convenient after AIB in 106 O’Connell Street opened its doors seven days a week.
In addition, the bank operates opening hours of 8am to 9pm on a daily basis and customers can avail of a mixture of self-service and teller-assisted banking options.
Branch manager Kieran Considine said that feedback from the bank’s customers has been hugely positive and, in return, he thanked them for continuing to do business in AIB while the bank was being renovated earlier this year.
Construction work on remodelling the premises began in early March and continued for almost three months, with customers and AIB staff operating in what Mr Considine described as “effectively a building site”.
He said: “It represents a significant investment on AIB’s part for the city centre. We had to totally renovate our operation over a 10-week period and we’re very thankful for our customer support during that because we were effectively operating in a building site.
“It’s the first of its kind in the city centre and we’re reacting to our customers’ needs to have access over a wider part of the day. It’s been well received so far.
“The feedback so far has been really positive from our customers, particularly our owner/manager SME customers. They would have been trying to rush down at 3:55 and getting somebody to cover their shop or business for them, but now they can come in after they close their business in the evening or on a Saturday morning.”
Mr Considine added that the decision to substantially improve the bank’s opening hours tied in with customer feedback which suggested that they sought the flexibility of being able to access the bank outside of traditional operating hours.
He also stated that the staff at 106 O’Connell Street, where young interns have also been taken on for the summer, are committed to making the banking experience as pleasant and straightforward for customers as possible.
“We can see every day since we opened the new facility that our customer numbers over the non-traditional hours are getting bigger and bigger. We also have a team of people on the floor whose job is to greet the customers as soon as they come into the branch.
“We’re always trying to make sure we have the correct level of people to support our customer base. Whether [customers] want to use the self-service or staff-assisted options, there will be people there to help them.”
