ACC Loan Management

ACC Loan Management Limited, formerly ACCBank plc, was formerly a commercial bank in Ireland that focused on agriculture and SME lending, and is now a company that focusses on managing the lending facilities of its existing clients. The bank had its origins in the Agricultural Credit Corporation (Corparáid an Chairde Talmhaíochta) set up in 1927 in the Irish Free State to finance agriculture; the bank was successful and led to the creation of the Industrial Credit Company, which was modelled on it and provided finance to industry. In the early 1990s, the company name was changed from "Agricultural Credit Corporation plc" to "ACCBank plc" in order to signify that the company was now targeting more than simply agricultural customers. In early 2002, the bank was sold by the Irish Government to Rabobank, it is now one of the three entities of the Rabobank (Ireland).

Company history

1927

The Agricultural Credit Corporation was founded in September 1927 and was one of the first creations of the Irish Free State.

1988

A new Agricultural Credit Act empowered the corporation to deploy up to 25% of its risk assets outside agriculture and the foundations of present-day ACCBank were laid.

2000

ACCBank refocused its business model on the SME and Agri sectors positioning the bank as a relationship bank in these sectors.

2002

ACCBank became a wholly owned subsidiary of Rabobank. With the backing of its parent, ACCBank embarking on ambitious plans to strengthen and grow its presence in Ireland as a leading Business and Agri-business bank. Now, as part of the Netherlands-based, former AAA rated, Rabobank Group, ACCBank’s range of products and services includes commercial mortgages, working capital finance, asset finance and leasing and wealth management.

2014 - ACCBank Restructuring,ceases banking, debt recovery focus

ACCBank decided to restructure with a focus solely on debt recovery, and stopped delivering banking services on Friday 30 May 2014. This meant that the closure of current accounts and return of all deposits, including interest due. All Business Centres in Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mullingar, Sligo and Waterford closed to the public and the management of loan facilities was centralised instead of being dealt with the local business centres.

ACCBank ceases to be a bank mid 2014 returning its banking licence but will continue to manage its loan portfolio. After ACCBank has returned its banking licence, it will be regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, but with an alternative status and not as a bank.

Commenting on the changes, country manager Kevin Knightly for parent Rabobank found losses incurred by ACC Bank Plc because of the property crisis, a position emerging of its costs exceeding income during 2014 and that position was unsustainable for its parent, requiring immediate action to stem loses. The bank has been reporting losses since 2007.

ACC has explored the possibility of outsourcing a portion of its loan book, in the region of 10%, excluding agricultural loans and selected Capita as the preferred service provider who have 1,000 staff in Ireland.

ACC has 5,000 deposit customers totaling €110 million. Overdrafts on current accounts amount to almost €75m.

The parent company, Rabobank Group, has provided capital support of €1.3 billion to ACC since 2008 with over €2.1 billion of the loan book written down since 2008.

SIPTU and UNITE trade unions wanted the Government to take ACC Bank back into State ownership and were looking for a meeting with the Minister for Finance in an attempt to seek to save jobs. They referred to the inclusion of a State investment bank in the Programme for Government. There was some redeployment opportunities to Rabobank but no new business was being generated for some time with the bank's staff focused on debt recovery.

ACCBank Champion Hurdle 2007

For the second year running, ACCBank was title sponsor of the 2007 Champion Hurdle, Ireland's richest Grade 1 Hurdle race, which took place on the concluding day of the Irish National Hunt Festival at Punchestown, on Friday 27 April.

Horse racing is almost a religion in Ireland and is strongly associated with both the Agri and SME market. Punchestown is the number one festival in the National Hunt racing season, as well as being one of the biggest corporate events in the calendar. This year's Festival attracted a record-breaking 32,500 people to the racecourse in Co. Kildare a few miles out of Dublin, including upwards of 3,000 corporate guests per day.

The race itself was a thrilling spectacle, with Silent Oscar pipping last year's winner Macs Joy at the post, to rapturous applause from the packed grandstands.

See also

• List of Irish companies

External links

• Official site