Bank of Ireland was established under Royal Charter by King George III in 1783. From then until the formation of the Central Bank of Ireland in 1942, the bank was primarily a banker to the government.

The bank first looked to add an international dimension to its operations in the 1970s, setting up representative offices in London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.

In the 1980s, Bank of Ireland set about becoming a broadly-based financial services group, acquiring the ICS Building Society, establishing a life assurance group, Lifetime, and purchasing Davy Stockbrokers.

In 1987, it expanded its British interests and in 1997 made its biggest acquisition with the purchase of Bristol & West.

It also established significant operations in the US during that time. These have since been sold to Royal Bank of Scotland. Today Bank of Ireland is the Republic's second largest bank. It has 14,600 employees, 9,000 of whom work in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The bank has 360 branches in Ireland.