here . it is not to be confused with national bank of ireland . for the northern irish bank see danske bank northern ireland . this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . december 2013 danske bank type subsidiary of danske bank founded dublin ireland 1986 headquarters dublin ireland key people thomas f. borgen chairman of executive board terry browne country head republic of ireland products financial services number of employees 366 2012 parent danske bank website www.danskebank.ie danske bank formerly known as the national irish bank is a bank operating in the republic of ireland . the bank is a subsidiary of the danske bank group which is headquartered in copenhagen . danske bank is organised in three business units personal banking business banking and corporates & institutions that span all of the group s geographical markets . since november 2012 all of the group s banking activities have been gathered under the danske bank brand name . the group s websites were brought fully into alignment with the new organisation at the same time . contents 1 history 1.1 lacey era 1988 1994 1.2 1998 inspection 2 changes under danske 2.1 reintegration with northern bank and rebrand 3 tiger robbery august 2006 4 closure of personal banking 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit former national irish bank branch on o connell street in dublin . the pediment by john steell depicts the parable of the wise and foolish virgins . 1 national irish bank was originally the republic of ireland branch network of northern bank one of the oldest banks in ireland dating back to 1824 . national irish bank was created as a separate entity in 1986 at first under the name northern bank ireland limited when its owners uk based midland bank separated northern bank s operations in the republic of ireland from its northern ireland business . in 1987 both banks were acquired by national australia bank along with midland bank s scottish subsidiary clydesdale bank . in 1988 the republic of ireland operation was renamed national irish bank limited whilst northern bank limited remained the name of the northern ireland operation . nonetheless a single management team continued to run both banks which shared many services and back office functions . during this era the logo of the national irish bank was that of the national australia bank at the time except that the red star had been recoloured green and irish bank was added alongside the word national . the original northern bank ireland logo had been the midland bank griffin . lacey era 1988 1994 edit in 1988 jim lacey had been appointed ceo of nib . he was briefed to spearhead a campaign to raise the bank s profile which included innovations such as lower interest rates . lacey commissioned a high profile advertising campaign featuring fictitious nib manager martin who would repeatedly call his cousin niall about the great deals the bank was offering . 2 in 1993 irish crime lord martin cahill planned a raid on nib using then ceo jim lacey and his family as hostages to extract up to 10 million in cash . in early 1993 john the coach traynor met with his boss cahill to provide him with inside information about the inner workings of nib at college green dublin . traynor told cahill that the bank regularly held more than 10 million in cash in the building . the plan was to abduct lacey his wife and four children and take them to an isolated hiding place . there they would be held with fellow gang member but acting as a hostage jo jo kavanagh who would frighten lacey into handing over every penny stored in the bank s vaults . 3 on 1 november 1993 cahill s gang that included brian meehan seized lacey and his wife outside his home in blackrock . 2 holding them at lacey s home kavanagh was brought in and tied up telling the family that he had been abducted two weeks before . on 2 november kavanagh drove lacey to college green to collect the ransom money with lacey eventually withdrawing ir 300 000 from an accessible cash machine . 2 kavanagh then drove the pair and the money to the local garda station where he told them the pair had been kidnapped and forced to take part in a robbery . 3 with a ransom note requesting payment of 10 million in cash the garda began investigating . they quickly found that kavanagh had claimed child allowance during his two week capture and so arrested him . cahill then planned with kavanagh to raid kavanagh s home and show intent to kill the lacey family by shooting kavanagh in the leg . kavanagh was then to call the irish newspapers from his hospital bed and claim he was a victim of the lacey kidnapping gang . 3 however the plan failed and the gang were arrested . released on bail in 1994 cahill was murdered by a claimed irish republican army hitman close to his home in rathmines who had been paid for by rival drug gang crime lord and former cahill gang member john gilligan . in 1997 kavanagh was jailed for 12 years for offences connected with the lacey kidnapping . 3 1998 inspection edit dismissed by national australia bank in 1994 lacey was subsequently appointed ceo of publishers lafferty and also appointed chairman of the irish aviation authority and the dublin docklands development authority . 2 however he resigned these positions in 1998 after a report on rt was further investigated by high court of the republic of ireland . after subsequently appointing inspectors in dublin 4 their report conclusions were bogus non resident accounts in some branches enabled customers to evade tax investment policies were promoted for funds undisclosed to the revenue commissioners special savings accounts had deposit interest retention tax dirt deducted at a reduced rate . note this point may be incorrect as the legal ssa product was designed to have dirt deducted at a lower rate . budget legislation over the past number of years has brought the reduced dirt rate up and the standard dirt down to a point where they both currently meet i.e. 20 % . there was improper charging of interest or fees to some customers . the bank has refunded all customers who the inspectors alleged had been mischarged . following the inspectors report the director of corporate enforcement took disqualification proceedings against nine former nib personnel none of whom has been employed by nib since the 1990s . 5 changes under danske edit on 1 march 2005 danske formally took control of national irish bank . it announced as its first act that the northern bank and national irish bank would be fully separated from each other with a new management team appointed to national irish bank . some shared back office services will remain . the bank changed over to the danske bank technology platform . the bank adopted the logo of danske bank albeit with the word danske replaced by national irish . the bank was formally relaunched on 18 april with a new product offering and a revamped internet banking system . among the innovations is the use of text messages to communicate with customers . in june 2005 andrew healy was appointed chief executive officer of national irish bank . in january 2007 danske bank announced that the banking business of national irish bank limited would be transferred to danske bank a s irish branch . the practical effect of this was that from 1 april 2007 national irish bank was no longer regulated by the central bank of ireland but by the danish financial services authority as nib was now to be a division of danske bank rather than a separate subsidiary . in december 2009 national irish bank announced that it was launching a restructuring programme this would involve closing 25 of its branches and also changing is banking model . beginning in early 2010 national irish bank began moving away from a cash bank to cashless . the first of these branches to go cashless were malahide and dun laoghaire branches . by the middle of 2011 national irish bank became a completely cashless bank and no longer accepts cash for lodgments . the bank announced that they would be looking at possible third parties to accept cash lodgments . further on from the announcement that national irish bank would be moving towards a cash free operation an post was announced as the third party who will accept lodgments on behalf of nib . this came into effect from 1 november . it meant that all national irish bank customers will be able to lodge cash they may have in any an post office around the country currently there are over 1 200 an post branches in roi . reintegration with northern bank and rebrand edit on 10 may 2012 danske bank announced that northern bank and national irish bank would be merged on 1 june 2012 under the northern bank management team and the danske bank name effectively reversing the separation between the two . the rebrand was completed on 18 november 2012 . 6 at the time the bank closed its 27 branches to focus on corporate and private clients subsequently pulling out of the personal retail banking market completely . tiger robbery august 2006 edit the killester dublin branch known as howth road branch of national irish bank was the scene of a tiger robbery on 29 august 2006 when a 23 year old employee was kidnapped by an armed gang . the bank handed over a ransom of 270 000 without informing or involving the garda s och na . the garda s och na heavily criticised this action stating that it leaves the bank exposed in the future to replica attacks . 7 however the howth road branch has since become a cashless branch . closure of personal banking edit on 31 october 2013 danske bank announced it would be withdrawing all personal banking services in the irish republic on a phased basis in the first half of 2014 . 8 see also edit list of companies of ireland references edit casey christine 2005 . dublin the city within the grand and royal canals and the circular road with the phoenix park . yale university press . p. 217 . isbn 978 0 300 10923 8 . a b c d una mccaffrey 9 april 2011 . ex chief executive s past eventually catches up with him . the irish times . retrieved 1 october 2011 . a b c d jo jo falls on woof times . sunday world . retrieved 1 october 2011 . mr justice john blayney and mr tom grace fca 30 july 2004 . summary of report of the investigation into the affairs of national irish bank ltd and national irish financial services limited pdf . the high court . cs1 maint uses authors parameter link odce seeks nine disqualifications arising from the nib nibfs report press release . office of the director of corporate enforcement . 28 july 2005 . switch from national irish bank to danske is completed . the irish times . 19 november 2012 . retrieved 28 april 2013 . garda anger at bank s ransom payment . the irish times . 31 august 2006 . http www.rte.ie news 2013 1031 483729 danske bank to close with loss of 150 jobs external links edit official website report on investigations into the affairs of national irish bank limited and national irish bank financial services limited danske bank nib acquisition site v t e banks of the republic of ireland allied irish banks bank of ireland danske bank permanent tsb kbc bank ireland rabobank ireland ulster bank retrieved