Once the poor relation of the U K, its entry into the European Economic Community with its convoluted redistribution of subsidies, now is riding high in terms of individual incomes as well as an animated business profile.
 | Allied Irish Banks
Formed in 1966 as a result of a merger of the Provincial Bank of Ireland Ltd, with the Munster & Leinster Bank and The Royal Bank of Ireland. The Banknotes share a common design with the last issues of the Provincial Bank. In the early 1990’s the Allied Irish Bank plc merged with the Trustee Savings Bank to form the First Trust Bank. |
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 | Bank of Ireland (Belfast)
Established in Dublin in 1973, the Bank of Ireland quickly became the dominant force of Ireland despite having no branch offices. For many years no rival bank was permitted by law to have more than six partners or shareholders which led to the setting up a large number of small and inadequately capitalised banks throughout Ireland. |
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 | Belfast Banking Company
Established in Belfast in 1827, taking over the business of 2 local private banking partnerships which dated back to1808 and 1809. In 1917 it was acquired by the London City and Midland Bank, 6 years later all of its branches in what was then the Irish Free State were sold to the Royal Bank of Ireland. This made the Belfast Bank the only Irish note-issuing bank which had no branches outside Northern Ireland. |
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 | First Trust Bank
The First Trust Bank was established in the early 1990s as a result of a merger between Allied Irish Bank plc and the Trustee Saving Bank. The new bank did not issue any Five Pounds notes. |
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 | National Bank Limited (Belfast)
The Bank was founded in 1835 by Daniel O’Connell. Its Irish branches were acquired by the Bank by Ireland in December 1965, and for a short time thereafter it carried on business as the National bank of Ireland Limited. A few years later its separate identity disappeared when it was merged in to the bank of Ireland. |
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 | Northern Bank Limited
The Northern Bank began life as a private partnership in Belfast in 1809, and became the joint stock Northern Banking Company in 1824, at which time it was the only joint stock banking company anywhere in the British Isles apart from Scotland. |
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 | Provincial Bank of Ireland Limited (Belfast)
The Provincial Bank of Ireland was formed in 1825 with its head office in London, and the majority of its initial shareholders were resident in England. It gradually took on a more Irish character, and in 1953 the Head Office was moved from London to Dublin. In 1966 the Provincial Bank merged with the Munster & Leinster Bank and the Royal Bank of Ireland to form Allied Irish Bank Limited, and the operations of the tree banks were integrated under the Allied Irish name in 1969. Because of legal problems, however, the Provincial Bank retained an office in Royal Avenue, Belfast and continued to issue notes in its own name until 1981. By then the legal difficulties had been overcome and later note were in the same namw of Allied Irish Banks. |
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 | Ulster Bank Limited (Belfast)
The bank was formed in 1836 by investors who had intended to participate in the establishment of a branch of the National Bank of Ireland in Belfast, but who found the terms offered to them insufficiently inviting. They informed their own bank instead. The Ulster Bank was acquired by the London County and Westminster Bank Ltd. in 1917, and is now part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group.
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