08/10/2003

Post Office to offer own-brand loans and mortgages

The Post Office and Bank of Ireland have announced a joint venture which will see the creation of Post Office-branded financial products, such as mortgages and loans, launched early in the New Year.

The venture will be owned equally by Post Office and Bank of Ireland Group and has an initial term of 10 years. Each shareholder will be offered board representation on the other’s board of directors, subject to the relevant corporate governance procedures.

The Bank of Ireland Group will invest £125 million and provide the core infrastructure and start up costs. The bank will also provide or source the product range, which will be distributed through the Post Office network.

Through the Post Office branch network, and via the telephone and website, customers will be now offered personal loans, savings accounts, credit cards, personal insurance and mortgages.

David Mills, Chief Executive, Post Office, said: “Customers know that the Post Office and its people provide them with reliable service and they trust us. Our new range of products will have great appeal and I expect Post Office Ltd to become a major provider of personal finance services. This is great news for our customers, as our employees and subpostmasters throughout the United Kingdom will be able to offer a much enhanced range of products.”

Post Office branches serve approximately 29 million people who make some 42 million visits to branches each week; 27 pence in every £1 in circulation passes through a Post Office branch.

The decision was made following 18 months of market research in which 20,000 customers were surveyed.

(gmcg)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

16 September 2004
Rural Post Offices to receive further funding
A new government support package worth £300million has been allocated for rural post offices from 2006-2008 it was announced today. The current three year funding initiative which runs until 2006 aims to enable Post Office Ltd to continue to meet the cost of maintaining the non-commercial part of the rural post office network.
14 November 2013
Crown Post Office Staff To Hold 13th Strike Action
Post Office staff are to undertake further strike action, the 13th such action since Easter. Some 4,000 Communication Workers Union (CWU) members at 372 of the UKs larger Crown post officers will hold a half-day strike on 20 November. It is the latest action in a long running dispute over jobs, pay and branch closures.
18 October 2006
Postmasters call for safeguard of rural offices
Postmasters are calling for urgent action by the government in order to safeguard rural post offices. The National Federation of Subpostmasters held a rally in London on Wednesday, while a petition of four million names was handed into 10 Downing Street. The NFSP general secretary Colin Baker warned that this was now "crunch time" for post offices.
07 May 2013
Strike Underway At Crown Post Offices
A one-day strike is underway at some 370 Crown Post Offices across the UK, in a dispute over closures, franchising, jobs and pay. 70 of the Crown Post Offices, the bigger post office branches found on high streets, are to be franchised or partnered with a retailer.
27 September 2004
Norfolk post offices take on policing duties
Post offices in the Norfolk area will take on some policing services from today under a pilot scheme designed to improve community access to police in the area.