22 November 2025
By Valerie Ryan
valerie@TheCork.ie

Opinion

Did you know that posting a small envelope in Ireland now costs €1.65, or slightly less for bulk users. The pillar banks are keen to stop posting statements, but rather than admit it’s to save them money, it’s being advertised as a Climate-change move.

In May 2025 AIB emailed customers stating:

“We’re aiming to help our customers with green initiatives. One way you can help is by switching to eStatements and eFees, a convenient and a secure way of receiving your personal account statements, through AIB Internet Banking and the AIB Mobile app. Many of our customers have switched already and, from July 2025, we will stop sending you paper statements, unless you choose otherwise. We know that in the past you may have chosen to keep receiving paper statements. This is your choice, and you can still choose paper statements at any time through Internet Banking, simply go to ‘Accounts’ and ‘Statement & Fees’.” [emphasis added]

So, I logged into the AIB mobile phone app, which is the most popular version of online banking, but it does not actually have a section where a account holder can re-enable paper statements. A phone call is needed to AIB [edit: 26 November 2025: AIB PR say it is possible to re-enable statements via the web browser version of online banking, which could be used on any web browser, including on a mobile phone]

If AIB are turning off their unique selling points that differentiate them from Revolut then why should we keep using AIB?

Well, it is reassuring to know you can visit a branch if something goes wrong, and that if AIB becomes insolvent the Irish state will bail it out, but assuming life operates normally more people are switching to Revolut and leaving the trad bank account less active.