Danske Bank has appointed Aisling Press as its new managing director of personal banking.
She will report to chief executive, Kevin Kingston and will have responsibility for all aspects of personal banking, including Danske Bank’s branch network, contact centre and mortgages.
Aisling joined Danske from AIB in 2016 and has been head of branch banking for the last three years.
She has overseen a major transformation programme of the branch network, including a multi-million-pound investment in the refurbishment of 14 branches.
This comprises the bank’s flagship Belfast city centre branch and start-up co-working space.
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Aisling is also a member of the bank’s Gender Diversity committee and a sponsor and mentor of the Sisters in Female Leadership programme, which helps foster leadership skills in girls of school age by working collaboratively with female leaders.
Aisling is taking up her new position at a time when the bank has been innovating and adjusting to better serve personal banking customers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kevin Kingston congratulated Aisling and thanked her predecessor Richard Caldwell, who is taking up another position within the bank as managing director of strategy and commercial development.
Kevin continued: “A fundamental part of our role in society is to make everyday banking accessible to everyone, and all of us in financial services have an important role to play in helping society respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Aisling is well placed to drive this, having been heavily involved in the transformation of our branches, and will help drive how Danske Bank continues to serve the needs of all our personal customers. She will bring great experience, energy and enthusiasm to the job at what is a crucial time for retail banking.”
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Aisling added: “My immediate priority in this new role is to ensure that Danske Bank continues to provide essential banking services and maintains support for our customers at what remains a difficult and uncertain time for many families and individuals. We have proven through the coronavirus lockdown that we are there to give both financial and non-financial support to our customers.
“All of our 40 branches and our contact centre have remained open through this crisis and we quickly introduced additional measures to help customers who may be in vulnerable circumstances, from dedicated phone lines for older customers and NHS workers, to our Check In and Chat team who proactively call customers in vulnerable circumstances to check they are OK.”
