Bank of Ireland hits milestone by installing 1000th fee-free ATM for U.K. Post Office

Bank of Ireland has installed its 1000th automated teller machine (ATM) as part of its financial services partnership with the U.K. Post Office to offer free-to-use ATMs to Post Office customers.

In March 2004, Bank of Ireland and the U.K. Post Office signed an agreement to roll out 1,000 new fee-free ATMs which allow customers of other* banks and building societies to access their cash at 1,000 branches.

The 1000th ATM was installed in Thurnscoe East Post Office in Rotherham.

Ger Moffatt, Head of ATMs at Bank of Ireland, said: "We are delighted both to have achieved this milestone ahead of target and with such positive reaction from the Postmasters and our customers across the UK".

Mr Surti, the subpostmaster at Thurnscoe East, said he has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people visiting the branch because of his new cash machine.

He said: "More people are also doing business in the branch itself and the comments I've had from customers have been very positive, as it's very convenient for them and, of course, free of charge."

ATM transactions have increased from 15-20 per day to 1600-1700 per week as a result of the new ATM.

Bank of Ireland and the U.K. Post Office already have a close working relationship through their financial services partnership launched in January 2004. This joint venture has launched a wide range of value-for-money services including car and home insurance, life assurance, personal loans and savings products and has already acquired 1.2 million customers.

Bank of Ireland is now a leading provider of ATMs with over 2,500 free-to-use ATMs in Ireland and the UK.

Ends

17 December 2007

For further information, please contact:

Dan Loughrey
Head of Group Corporate Communications
Bank of Ireland
01 604 3833 / 086 2412470

Notes to Editors

Bank of Ireland UK Financial Services (UKFS) combines the sterling denominated businesses within the Bank of Ireland Group incorporating Business Banking, Personal Lending and Consumer Financial Services representing joint ventures with the UK Post Office. The Bank of Ireland in Northern Ireland, part of Business Banking, is a leading player in both personal financial services and in corporate and business banking.

Bank of Ireland UKFS operates its businesses out of London, Belfast, Bristol and Reading with a workforce of approximately 3,500 staff. The division generates in excess of £300m profits before tax, similar to companies listed in the FTSE top 70, with annual growth over 15% achieved. UKFS manages over £40bn of quality customer loans and about £15bn customer deposits with strong growth demonstrated within each book. Customer numbers acquired within the Post Office relationship have exceeded 1 million in three years and continue to grow strongly.

Bank of Ireland's Joint Venture with the UK Post Office

Bank of Ireland entered an agreement in 2004 to provide financial services products distributed through the Post Office. The joint venture, Post Office Financial Services (POFS) has delivered strong performance with profits almost doubling at half-year results, 30 September 2007. Customer numbers have increased to 1.2 million at 30 September 2007 with the business continuing to add approximately 50,000 new customers every month. Market share is growing in insurance products and strong volume growth Instant Saver accounts continues. Total resources in POFS were £2.5 billion at 30 September 2007.

Post Office

*The Post Office (reg trademark) provides personal banking services for current account and basic bank account bank customers free of charge on behalf of the following UK banks and building societies:

The above list represents approximately 40 per cent of the current and basic bank accounts in use in the UK. The Post Office's (reg trademark) vision is to enable all its customers to have access to their cash free-of-charge whatever bank account they have with any bank or building society and the Post Office (reg trademark)continues discussions with banks and building societies to this end.