Some 98 years after its establishment, the Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) is reinventing itself as the Financial Services Union (FSU) to reflect the diversity of its membership. The rebrand is part of a wider campaign by the union to extend its appeal beyond the traditional retail banking sector.

Some 1,000 of its 15,000 members are now drawn from outside the traditional banking sector, some of them working for companies who outsource services to the main retail banks here.

The union has also overhauled its constitution to make its decision-making process more “responsive”. It is reducing the number of members on its executive committee.

Opportunities

The FSU hopes these moves will help it to increase its membership and take advantage of opportunities within the wider financial services sector. Its membership had been as high as 25,000 before the global financial crash in late 2008.

Speaking ahead of the union's annual conference in Dublin on Friday, Larry Broderick, the FSU's general secretary, said: "For 98 years bank officials across these islands have been well served by the IBOA, securing dramatic improvements in pay and conditions . . . Today, however, it is the banking sector itself which has been revolutionised by globalisation, technology and the growing needs of our members.

“Banking is now part of an international financial services industry, which includes not just bank tellers, but software developers, derivative traders, financial advisers and sales teams. . . FSU members will continue to benefit from the collective strength of the union, but we’ll also be reconfiguring our services to provide more personal and career development.”

Mr Broderick said that in the past year the FSU has secured €16.8 million and £3.6 million worth of pay increases respectively for its members in the Republic and the North.