Do you want to access the full text of articles?

Please see our digital edition archive for the full text of articles.

Alternatively:

If you are a Chartered Accountants Ireland member, please visit the RIS service where Accountancy Ireland is available free of charge via the EBSCO databases.

If you are an Accountancy Ireland subscriber (i.e. you pay each year to receive your copy of Accountancy Ireland) please contact our Subscriptions Department quoting your subscription number and include details of the article you want.

All other users should enquire from their local public or college library about accessing full text Accountancy Ireland articles.

Home / ...

Last year, Postbank lost €25 million in its first year of trading. It is set to make a multi-million euro loss again this year, but chief executive Margaret Sweeney is happy with the figures. Established in April 2007 as a 50/50 joint venture between An Post and the Brussels-based bank Fortis, Postbank is succeeding beyond expectations, says Margaret, who became Ireland’s highest ranking female banking executive when she took up her appointment.

“Our number of customers is ahead of target – we have more than 100,000 of them – and our roll-out of equipment and training is on schedule.

“Of course we made a loss in our first year and will make a loss again this year, we are in investment mode. Not only do we hold the first full retail banking license issued in a long time, we are also involved in the biggest banking services roll-out in the history of the state. We are putting in the infrastructure to leverage our network of post offices, which is the biggest retail network in Ireland.

“We have had to integrate each post office’s counter systems with our banking system and that work will be completed by the end of August.

“We are finding there is a great demand for straight-forward banking products where what you see is what you get.”

The Spiel At present, Postbank offers two savings accounts and a current account. “Our SolidSaver account currently gives 3.3%, with access to your savings on demand. Our PremiumSaver product is also an on-demand account and it gives an interest of 4.5%, providing you have a minimum balance of €10,000.

“Our EveryDay current account is doing very well. A cost comparison by the Financial Regulator shows that it is great value in comparison to what is being offered by other banks and the charges that they make.

“What is more, our debit card uses the Maestro system for ATMs and electronic transactions – when you travel abroad that is a real advantage. You can use your Maestro card at point-of-sale abroad, something you wouldn’t be able to do with Laser Card. My son is on a school rugby tour and he was able to use his Postbank card in Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina!”

Margaret says no one should be surprised that Postbank is set to become a major success. “We have great strength in the depth of Fortis’s expertise and the breadth of the post office network, which is the biggest retail network in Ireland.

“In any case, the post banking model has been commonplace across Europe for decades. It’s in use in Belgium, Spain, Holand, Italy, Switzerland, the Nordic Countries, New Zealand and Australia.

“Looking at our customer demographics, the largest proportion of our customers is those in the 30 to 50 age bracket. We are surprised ourselves at how much the take up of products has been across the age groups, we did think we would have an older age profile.”

In conjunction with the IFA, Postbank promoted its EveryDay account among farmers, who will no longer be receiving cheques from Brussels. “All EU support payments will be made by electronic fund transfer from October onwards,” says Margaret. “There will be no more cheque coming in the door from Brussels, you will have to have a bank account.

“We are strongly into promoting electronic payments and our current account doesn’t have a chequebook – if you want a cheque, for example to pay a tradesman, we can organise one for you, but the main method of payment is via the debit card.”

Profile The daughter of a fisherman and a small farmer in Kilcar, Co. Donegal, Margaret’s motto is ‘work hard and stay focused’. She studied Commerce at UCG and was the first place honours student in her degree class, so she had no trouble getting a place with Stokes Kennedy Crowley during the 1981 ‘milk round’.

As the company grew and became the KPMG of today, Margaret grew with it to the rank of company director, before leaving in 1993 to join the board of Aer Rianta, where her seven years of service included nine months as chief executive in 2006. She then worked in consultancy, advising An Post on which banking partner it should choose for its Postbank venture. After Postbank was formed, she was asked to apply for the CEO role. Additionally, she is currently serving on the board of Teagasc and Dublin City University and she is the current president of Dublin Chamber of Commerce. Looking back, she says she was lucky to have joined SKC/KPMG. “It was a great experience – at a very young age, you start dealing with pretty senior people and it’s a great way to learn. I was working in the financial services sector, in pharma, in manufacturing and in agri-business. I was working with small Irish indigenous companies and with multinationals like General Electric. You also get to travel. They worked you hard as a trainee, but we loved it.”

As a Fellow if the ICAI, Margaret says the biggest benefit she received from the Institute was the networking opportunities it afforded. “The business sector or industry sector events are particularly good for networking,” she says. “It’s funny how so many of us who used to meet one another when we were juniors long ago are now in senior positions.

There is a great sense of camaraderie. Over the years, we would have heard of the different challenges we were all facing at any particular time. You may be working in different business sectors, but you all face the samechallenges.”

Asked if her appointment as chief executive of a bank is a sign that women have achieved equality in Ireland’s corporate culture, she says:

“I have never seen gender as an issue in my career. I have taken a simple approach to life – work hard, stay focussed – if you work hard and stay focussed on your career, you will do well.

“There is a lot to be said for having more women board members, however. Research has found that the publicly quoted companies that do best tend to have at least two women board members. It’s a fact of life that men and women think differently; they have a different perspective on life. It stands to reason if you are doing business in a marketplace that is male and female, that you should have the benefit of a male and female perspective when making business decisions.

“The team we have built at Postbank has lots of different perspectives, we have some 10 different nationalities working for us.”

However, wherever she goes, the place Margaret most enjoys being is her native Donegal. She is unashamedly proud of her county. “Sure, why wouldn’t I be? It’s the best place in Ireland! My heart never leaves it and I try to get back as often as I can.” For day-to-day relaxation, she reads and walks, while she also plays golf from time to time. She says her chief out-of-office diversion is her two sons, but she admits that her involvement in the boards of DCU and of Teagasc are a form of leisure activity – she enjoys the work!

“I strongly believe in putting something back into the community and I strongly believe in the power of education, which is why I am on these two boards. But I have to admit that I find the work with both DCU and with Teagasc very enjoyable. You get a chance to hear other people’s perspective on life and the issues they are facing and it really adds to your breadth of experience. I have to say I enjoy what I do.”

Cian Molloy is a freelance business journalist.

are accounts in postbank state guaranteed in the same way as an posts savings certificates?

i accept. very true indeed