ULSTER Bank’s mobile pop-up branch in Lisnaskea is only scheduled to be in the Fermanagh town for less than an hour each month.
The move is sure to affect residents, particularly the elderly who do not use internet banking for their personal banking and finances.
Lisnaskea residents were left outraged earlier this year when Ulster Bank, the last remaining bank in the town, closed down as part of the company’s rapid closure of branches in the North.
The bank has since informed its members in Lisnaskea that it would be running a mobile pop-up branch in the town once a month, for 50 minutes.
It was news that did not go down well with locals.
“For the older generation, who might be stuck for getting transport in and out of the town, it’s going to be very difficult for them,” Erne East Councillor Garbhan McPhillips said.
“The 50-minute window is really not going to suffice for the needs of local people.
“I would hope that whenever they do come for that short window, that there would be quite a large number [of people] there so they will not be able to get away too handy.”
Before pulling the shutters down at its Lisnaskea branch, Ulster Bank confirmed it was closing down 10 branches across the North, with 21 employees losing their jobs as part of the changes.
Councillor Victor Warrington believed the latest move wasn’t going to “cut the mustard”.
“I know how busy the bank was in Lisnaskea having worked in the town for different companies throughout the years,” Mr Warrington said.
“That [Ulster] bank was always chock-a-block and certainly an [mobile pop-up branch] establishment there for 50 minutes once a month isn’t going to cut the mustard.”
In the lead-up to the local branch closure, Ulster Bank reported that, in 2022, 63 per cent of Lisnaskea customers used either the online Anytime banking service or the bank’s mobile app.
Councillor Warrington questioned what good the brief pop-up mobile clinic would be to the many elderly and local pensioners in the area who do not use internet banking.
“We highlighted the concerns at the time for an ageing population and their inability to use online banking,” the Ulster Unionist Party councillor said.
“Those decisions are made at a higher level and as much as they consult with us, it’s just basically a box-ticking exercise for them.
“You’re never going to change their minds,” a frustrated Mr Warrington added.
Mr McPhillips, who was vocal in the campaign to save Ulster Bank, has said that its closure was another major blow for communities across Fermanagh.
“The last remaining bank in the town, for it to be taken away not just from the local residents, but for the local businesses as well, it was a completely devastating act,” the SDLP Councillor explained.
“I still really can’t get over it. For it to go, it’s just another attack on the rural area.
“Most people were used to going into the bank and I’d say there’s still a number of people who aren’t used to using mobile banking,” added Mr McPhillips.
Ulster Bank has been contacted for comment.
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