The Irish arm of HBOS, which trades under the incredibly unwieldy name of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), finally began rolling out the first of its 46 new branches last week. Bank of Scotland Ireland boss Mark Duffy claimed he was overseeing the first launch of a new Irish bank in more than a century, a boast that raised more than a few eyebrows in banking circles.

But whatever about the hyperbole . . . and there was lots of it . . . Bank of Scotland's move is to be welcomed. Real competition is good for consumers and what had been an almost moribund personal banking market has been showing signs of increased vitality in recent months.

Just 24 hours after Duffy launched his new retail bank network at Bank of Scotland's head office at St Stephen's Green in Dublin, another Scottish bank dusted down its new Irish offering. Down by the Liffey at George's Quay, Ulster Bank, which is owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, entered the free banking arena with a new current account which has been offered automatically to its existing customers.

The new switching code has made it easier to move banks and Permanent TSB was the first player out of the blocks last year with a free current account. NIB has had a free current account for more than a decade but until very recently it didn't seem keen to tell anyone about it. This has changed now with the arrival of new owners Danske Bank, but NIB is unlikely to be making much of a play in the market until its new owner revamps the bank's image later this year.

Permanent TSB claims to have signed up 67,000 customers to its new account, and Bank of Ireland introduced a free account, with some conditions attached, late last year. Last week only AIB was still charging virtually all its customers for the privilege of having a current account with the bank.

Bank of Scotland also signalled that it intends to shake up the savings market, as it has introduced a new regular savings product that pays 3.75% so long as your money is there for a full year. This rate is higher than any other available in Ireland, but there are so many strings attached to this account as to make it puppet-like.

Bank of Scotland initially offered cheap mortgages in Ireland and clearly wanted to position itself as the provider with the highest interest rate for savings, but with this deal one could argue that it does not want too many people to avail of it. Break any of its myriad of conditions and the rate drops to a miserly 1.75%.

Bank of Scotland is making it clear that it wants to win customers from the big two banks but, with a current account still a year away, its staff are hardly likely to be knocked over in the stampede . . . at least in the short term.

But banking competition is increasing and the financial institutions are beginning to get a little rattled. Permanent TSB executives had a public pop at both Ulster Bank and Bank of Scotland last week.

The name-calling is good fun for bank watchers, but customers care more about price and service and will want to see the battle continue in those areas rather than at the megaphones.