Business Post's View

Editorial: Arrival of a new entrant to the banking sector for the first time in almost 20 years is good news

For a country with one of the youngest and wealthiest workforces in Europe it has long been a source of curiosity why international retail banks are so put coming here

Bankinter, the fifth largest bank in Spain with a balance sheet in excess of €113 billion, plans to enter the Irish retail banking market. Picture: Getty

One of the most-costly legacies of Ireland’s financial crash in 2008 was the decimation of our banking sector.

The deliberate government strategy to create the two and a half bank system made up of AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB was a necessary evil given the destruction caused by the likes of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.

Over the course of the last five years, Ireland’s retail banking landscape narrowed further following the exits ...