Allied Irish Banks is to phase in six-and seven-day retail bank opening of selected branches over the next two years.
Despite the advent of credit cards and electronic banking, AIB sees the longer opening hours as a reaffirmation of the central role its branch network will continue to play in retail services to bank customers.
The new hours are being introduced with the agreement of the Irish Bank Officials' Association.
The new rosters will be introduced on a voluntary basis, with existing staff in the branches concerned having first refusal on the new rosters.
In return for working on Saturdays and Sundays, AIB staff will receive extra annual leave days, pay rises worth between 14 per cent and 17 per cent and once-off payments of £500.
The first branch to operate on the extended-hours basis will be opened in April at Dunboyne; there is no AIB branch in the Co Meath commuter town at present.
A spokesman for AIB said that many people in the area worked in Dublin and could not avail of normal branch services between Monday and Friday.
Over the next two years more than 20 branches will switch to opening six or seven days a week. AIB has about 300 branches in the Republic, and less than 10 per cent will be affected.
The spokesman declined to say how many of the branches with extended hours would be in new locations. He said that possible locations were being examined and the information was commercially sensitive.
The branches affected by longer hours are divided into three categories.
Category A will open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Category B branches will open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Category C banks will open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Wednesday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
AIB has an agreement with the IBOA to develop change on a partnership basis, and the elaborate process involved in extending working hours will be finalised at local levels. The union agreement to longer hours is based on a recognition that protection of jobs depends on improving the quality of customer services.
Full details of the industrial relations aspects of the agreement are contained in the latest issue of Industrial Relations News.