First Trust Bank

For other banks with a similar name, see First Bank.

First Trust

Type	Subsidiary of AIB
Founded	1991
Headquarters	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Key people	Des Moore, Head of First Trust Bank - Northern Ireland
Products	Various banking products
Website	www.firsttrustbank.co.uk/

First Trust Bank, part of the AIB Group, is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland. It forms part of one of the Big Four banks in Ireland. The bank was created in 1991 when TSB Northern Ireland merged with the AIB Group's other interests. The bank can trace its existence back to 1816 with the founding of the Belfast Savings Bank. The bank is one of the four banks that issues Pound Sterling banknotes in Northern Ireland. Allied Irish Banks confirmed plans to sell off the bank in April 2010 as part of plans to raise capital.^[1] These plans were subsequently shelved and instead the bank announced investment plans starting in 2014.^[2]

Banking services

Allied Irish Banks' UK division, with total assets of €15.1 billion (approx £10 billion),^[3] operates in two distinct markets, Northern Ireland and Great Britain (where it operates as Allied Irish Bank (GB)), with different economies and operating environments. AIB Group (UK) p.l.c., registered in the UK and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, operates as the legal entity for the division.

In the Northern Ireland market, the division operates under the trading name First Trust Bank from 30 full service branches throughout the region. The First Trust Bank Head Office is located in Belfast, together with the Business Services Centre. A full service is offered to business and personal customers, across the range of customer segments, including personal customers, small and medium sized enterprises, and the corporate sector. Specialist services, including mortgages, invoice discounting and asset finance are based in Belfast and delivered throughout the division (the credit/debit card operations were split in 2007, with the Card Issuing business transferred to the AIB Head Office in Dublin in 2007, and the Card Acquiring (merchant) business becoming a joint venture with First Data Merchant Services in 2009). First Trust Independent Financial Services provides sales and advice on regulated products and services, including protection, investment and pension requirements to the whole of the division.

Banknotes

A £100 First Trust Bank note.

Main article: Banknotes of Northern Ireland

In common with the other Big Four banks of Northern Ireland, the First Trust Bank retains the right to issue its own banknotes. Until the name change in 1991, these banknotes bore the name Allied Irish Bank. These are pound sterling notes and equal in value to Bank of England notes, and should not be confused with banknotes of the former Irish pound.

Earlier note issues by the bank were made under the bank's previous names: the Provincial Bank of Ireland Ltd. (to 1976), Allied Irish Banks Ltd. (1977–1986), and Allied Irish Banks PLC (1987–1993).

First Trust Bank's current notes depict two generic people, one male, one female. They appear as children on the £1 and £5 notes, as middle-aged on the £10 and £20, and finally as elderly on the £50 and £100. The obverse designs generally feature images associated with the Spanish Armada, commemorating the wrecking of 24 Armada ships off the coast of County Antrim in 1588:^[4]^[5]

10 pound note featuring the ship Girona
20 pound note featuring the chimney at Lacada Point, Giant's Causeway, near Dunluce, County Antrim, where the Girona was wrecked
50 pound note featuring a commemorative medal
100 pound note featuring the Spanish Armada

A £5 note featuring Dunluce Castle on the obverse and a £1 note also featuring the Girona were issued by the Provincial Bank of Ireland and by AIB, but have not been issued by First Trust Bank.

References

↑ "First Trust staff 'shocked' at sale". BBC News Online. 2 April 2010.
↑ Oral evidence given by First Trust Bank at a Northern Ireland Affairs Committee hearing in the House of Commons on 29th Jan 2014. See p31 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmniaf/uc650-xi/uc650xi.pdf
↑ AIB Investor Relations
↑ "British Isles Coast Gallery By Mark Horton". BBC. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
↑ "Giant's Causeway - The Armada". NorthAntrim.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to First Trust Bank.

External links

Official site

Commercial and retail banks in the United Kingdom

Banking in the United Kingdom

Barclays	Barclays Bank Barclays Wealth

CYBG	Clydesdale Bank Yorkshire Bank

HSBC Holdings	First Direct HSBC Bank HSBC Private Bank M&S Bank

Lloyds Banking Group¹	Bank of Scotland Bank of Wales Birmingham Midshires Halifax Lloyds Bank

Royal Bank of Scotland Group²	Adam and Company Child & Co. Coutts & Co. Drummonds Bank NatWest Royal Bank of Scotland Ulster Bank Isle of Man Bank

Santander Group	Cahoot Cater Allen Santander UK

Wholly state-owned	National Savings and Investments UK Financial Investments UK Asset Resolution Bradford & Bingley³ NRAM³

Other	Airdrie Savings Bank Al Rayan Bank Aldermore Allied Irish Bank (GB) First Trust Bank Arbuthnot Latham & Co Secure Trust Bank Bank and Clients Bank of Ireland Butterfield Bank Cambridge & Counties Bank C. Hoare & Co Close Brothers Group The Co-operative Bank Smile Danske Bank Duncan Lawrie Handelsbanken Harrods Bank ICICI Bank UK Julian Hodge Bank Kingdom Bank Kleinwort Benson Metro Bank Monzo OneSavings Bank Post Office Money Raphaels Bank Reliance Bank N M Rothschild & Sons Sainsbury's Bank SG Hambros Shawbrook Bank Standard Chartered Tesco Bank Triodos Bank TSB Unity Trust Bank Virgin Money

"Big Four" banks are underlined and private banks are shown in italics ¹ 8% owned by UKFI ² 73% owned by UKFI ³ Mortgage assets only

Banknotes of the pound sterling

England and Wales

Bank of England

Current	£5 £10 £20 £50

Obsolete	10/- £1

Scotland

Bank of Scotland	£5 £10 £20 £50 £100

The Royal Bank of Scotland	£1 £5 £10 £20 £50 £100

Clydesdale Bank	£5 £10 £20 £50 £100

Northern Ireland

Bank of Ireland	£5 £10 £20 £50 £100

Danske Bank	£10 £20 £50 £100

First Trust Bank	£10 £20 £50 £100

Ulster Bank	£5 £10 £20 £50 £100

British Crown Dependencies

British Overseas Territories
(at parity with Sterling)

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.