The International Post Bank Council has been told that a post office based bank should form a central part of any reform of the banking industry. The council is meeting in Dublin for the first time.
Chairman Carl Holsters, from the Banque de la Poste in Belgium, said the Government here had shown foresight by encouraging investment in a national post office-based banking system.
The council’s aim is to help senior executives in the global postal financial services industry and their post office and bank partners.
Among those attending today’s meeting in Dublin is Hans Boon, MD of PosteFinance in Amsterdam, Yoel Naveh, Director of Postal Bank Jerusalem, Odile Pilley from the Universal Postal Union Beirne and Margaret Sweeney, CEO of Postbank Ireland.
‘In most markets, postbanks are closer to the true origin of retail banking – the development of saving banks are all rooted in this tradition,’ commented Mr Holsters.
He said that recently a lot of banks lost their way in ‘exotic products’, which cased a ‘tsunami of financial losses’ as never seen before.
‘Boring, non-sexy postbanks rooted in old traditions are once again an attractive consumer proposition for basic, simple, transparent products and a high level of real personal service,’ he added.
Postbank Ireland operates now from almost 1,000 post offices nationwide.
This article has originally been published at rte.ie