Bank of Ireland is to make its new offshore headquarters the Isle of Man and is restructuring parts of its other offshore business. The m...

Bank of Ireland is to make its new offshore headquarters the Isle of Man and is restructuring parts of its other offshore business. The move will mean a scaling down of the bank’s Guernsey branch, Bristol & West International, which now acts purely as a sales and marketing operation, and has become a branch of the Isle of Man company. The back-office work force in the Isle of Man branch will be increased by nine employees to a total of 40 people, while its deposits have doubled to around £2 billion. The Bank of Ireland said that larger premises in the Isle of Man were a major factor in the decision to move from Guernsey, although the bank also said that wage costs, which are 15 per cent lower on the Isle of Man, were also a factor. This further depletes the Bank of Ireland’s presence in the Channel Islands, after its Jersey operation was discontinued four years ago.