Outside of Ireland, AIB operates in UK as AIB (UK), First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland, and Bank Zachodni (BZ-WBK) in Poland. It also entered the Latvian, Estonian, and Lithuanian markets by acquiring the AmCredit mortgage finance business from the Baltic-American Enterprise Fund.
The Allied Irish Bank was established in 1966 with the merger of three Irish banking institutions:
The Provincial Bank
The Royal Bank
The Munster and Leinster
In the emerging Irish economy of the mid 60s, this merger proved to be decisive. With the global economy changing rapidly, Europe became a hotspot of global finance in the wake of the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
In the 1970s, the first branch in UK came into being, followed by an investment in the US in the 1980s. In 1983, AIB made its first investment in First Maryland Bancorp in the USA. In July 1997, AIB acquired the Dauphin Deposit Corporation which was merged with First Maryland Bancorp to form Allfirst in 1999.
In June 1999, AIB signed an agreement with the Polish State Treasury to acquire 80% shares of Bank Zachodni SA. In June 2001, AIB completed a merger with the two banks and created the Bank Zachodni WBK. In 2003, Allfirst merged with M&T Corporation, with AIB holding a 23.5% stake in it.
AIB Group has revenue of more than €4.6bn and employee strength of more than 24000.
CLICK Visa Credit Card:
A low APR of 8.5%
AIB internet banking customers can apply online
Platinum Visa Credit Card:
3.9% APR on purchases and balance transfers
Exclusive rewards and benefits with this card
AIB internet banking customers can apply online
AIB mc2 Student MasterCard:
3.9% introductory APR on purchases for the 1st year
Translucent card – first time in Ireland
Can be applied online through internet banking
Last but not the least, the 'be' Visa/MasterCard can be applied for online itself.