Frequently Asked Questions​​

What do you need to know about the Irish Banking Culture Board?​

You can learn about the members of the board on our Who we Are page.

The IBCB’s founding member banks were Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, KBC Bank Ireland, PTSB and Ulster Bank.

The IBCB’s member banks are Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB.

While the IBCB is an initiative of the banking industry and is being funded by our member banks, the Board is an independent entity led by an independent, non-banking Chairperson, Mr. Justice John Hedigan. One of the most important tasks at establishment, was the composition of the IBCB Board. The Board has been developed very specifically to ensure:

  1. the Board is Chaired by an independent party, with no prior involvement or experience in banking or financial services;
  2. the position of Deputy Chair is held by a respected Corporate Governance professional;
  3. the corporate governance structure put in place ensures and demonstrates independence, and;
  4. key stakeholder groups are represented.


The Articles of Association for the Company explicitly require that, for a Board meeting to proceed, there must always be more non-Bank Directors present than Bank Directors.

The IBCB has a singular focus on culture. Its goal is to act as a transformative influence on culture within the banking sector – promoting and measuring an environment in which: ethical behaviour is made inevitable; fair customer outcomes are achieved; and reputation for competence is rediscovered.

The Board will not act as a lobbying or regulatory body nor duplicate the work of individual banks or the regulator.

Please read a little more about our Vision and Purpose.

The IBCB is fully funded by the member banks. This is indicative of the industry’s commitment to fostering a sustainable banking sector that adheres to the highest standards of professionalism.

Education is key to cultural change and the IOB are our educational partners. The IBCB support the two University College Dublin accredited programmes, developed by the IOB and the Association of Compliance Officers of Ireland, which focus on leading and managing effective cultural change in the financial services industry – each of the member banks are supporting staff to complete these programmes.

If you have a complaint about your bank, we would recommend that you contact them, in the first instance, about the problem. Please note that if you are not satisfied with how your complaint / issue has been dealt with by your bank, you should consider contacting the Financial Services & Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). The process for this is outlined on the homepage of their website.

If you would like to contact us please find out how on our enquiries page.

Éist Logo

Why Éist?

Éist is an Irish language word which means listen.

We expressly selected this word as since the IBCB was established, one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we have received from bank staff and bank customers alike is that they want banks to listen to them more and to then act on that feedback.

We recognise that Ireland today is diverse, drawn from many cultural and ethnic backgrounds, many have never learned Irish, and even for those who have, it is probably long forgotten at this stage! If you would like to know how to pronounce Éist correctly, the link below may be helpful.

The Irish Banking Culture Board

For enquiries please see our Enquiries page.