KBC Bank Ireland increased customer base in Ireland by 25 per cent

KBC Bank Ireland has increased its customer base here by 25 per cent this year from the launch of current account and other services and is set to announce a life assurance product in partnership with Irish Life.

The bank is also planning to open five new branches, as it seeks to build its footprint across the country.

Speaking at the Irish Bank Federation's annual conference, Dara Deering, head of retail banking at KBC Bank Ireland, said its customer numbers this year had risen to just more than 160,000.

She said credit card and personal loan products would be launched “very soon” while its deposit base had grown to about €3 billion from €2 billion at the end of 2012.

It is offering a white label home insurance product through Zurich Insurance, while a partnership with a third-party provider for “full life assurance products” will be offered soon. The provider is understood to be Irish Life.

KBC has five branches here, which it intends to double. It has identified a site in the Grand Canal docks, Dublin, which is likely to open in January. Two more branches are likely in the capital, one in Cork and one in the midlands.