Analysis: Credit unions have a long way to go to rival main banks in €14bn mortgage market
Irish credit unions are sitting on billions in cash deposits but lack the market reach and expertise to meaningfully compete with the banks on new home loans
It’s been a long and painful road, but Ireland’s domestic banking industry is continuing its slow march towards normalisation.
The cataclysmic banking sector crash post-2008 almost dragged the country under and required the state to inject tens of billions of euros into the domestic financial system to prevent an all out collapse. Over a decade later, the recovery in the banking system is almost there.
In 2022, Bank of Ireland became to first lender to return to full private ownership after the state sold the last of its crisis-era shares, while AIB is well on its way to a similar outcome. PTSB is somewhat behind the big two banks in its journey back to privatisation but the roadmap is there.
