Bank of Ireland opens online bank for expatriates

The Bank of Ireland (BOI) has launched Fsharp, an Internet bank aimed at expatriates.

Licensed in the Isle of Man - known for being an offshore tax haven - the service (http://www.fsharpbank.com ) is available to people working overseas with a minimum of £5,000 to deposit. The standalone service will not be offered in the UK and Ireland where the BOI already has a network of retail branches.

Tony O'Shea, general manager, Offshore Banking BOI, said: "Our research has shown that people who live overseas don't feel well-served by the offshore banking community."

While describing charges as "competitive" for services such as credit and debit cards, fund management (through Mercury Asset Management), tax advice (through KPMG) and currency conversion, O'Shea said flexibility and convenience will mostly draw users to Fsharp.

Lorcan Connolly, head of BOI IT, said security and up-time would be assured. Fsharp uses hardware from Sun Microsystems, and Oracle 8 database and application server software. Computer Associates' UnicenterTNG is used to monitor the setup, and there is total replication in case of system failure.

Two Internet service providers are used - Manx Direct and Telecom Eireann.

The Isle of Man government said it will grant only six Internet banking licences, and two other banks are known to be following the BOI's lead.

The BOI estimates Fsharp will have 10,000 customers by the end of 1999, and make money in 3-5 years.