Career wise, it has not always been a smooth relationship between bank staff and management, and we even had a situation in the early 1970s when banks across Ireland went on strike for a number of months.

Indeed, the turbulent industrial relations raised their head recently, with threatened industrial action from Bank of Ireland staff regarding pensions headed off without disruption to customers.

So is banking still a career that people should want to get into?

Well, according to a recently commissioned survey by IBOA, the Irish Bank Officials Association, which is the country's leading banking and finance trade union, "there is a strong sense of loyalty and job satisfaction among bank staff." But there are still a number of issues regarding salary, shortage of staff and stress/pressure.

However, the image of the industry among staff took a bit of a hammering with the revelation that there is widespread agreement (87%) among staff that "profits are the driving force behind decisions at senior level", and over half (56%) agree that the banks are forgetting its customers in their drive for profits. A further 47% says it is not advisable to speak out on any issue within the bank, while the degree of bullying and harassment evident in banking "has surprised even ourselves" (according the IBOA).

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of people are employed across the banks of Ireland, lured by the fact that it is not only a career in finance, but by the favourable incentives that often exist (cheaper mortgages, access to more interesting financial products at lower prices, etc). This is despite the fact that it is no longer as straightforward to act as a financial operator as it was in the past, with the introduction of 'Minimum Competency Requirements' for retail financial services.

These competency requirements were first implemented on January 1 of this year, and apply to individuals who provide advice on, or sell, retail financial products to consumers, or who undertake certain specified activities. The directive came from the EU, with the parameters of the requirements set by each member state . . . and practitioners have four years to complete the qualifications (people with relevant experience can undergo a "grandfathering" process which allows for certain exemptions).

The biggest provider of education under these Minimum Competency Requirements for the banking sector is the Institute of Bankers, which offers three main courses . . . the QFA (Qualified Financial Advisor) course (which provides the competency requirements for five out of the six areas, although there is a bridging exam for General Insurance), a Certificate in Mortgage Practice, and a Foundation Cert in Consumer Credit. The QFA is six modules (which could be completed in one year, at two modules per term over three terms), the Mortgage Practice cert is a three module qualification, while Consumer Credit runs for one module over one term.

Despite these new requirements, it would appear that appetite for a career in banking is not on the wane . . . as evidenced by the fact that Halifax is having little or no trouble in recruiting staff for its new branches.

Halifax started life as a retail bank 14 months ago as Bank of Scotland (Ireland), but the company re-branded itself in November 2006. In an innovative recruitment move, it took advantage of its purchase of ESB retail outlets to offer jobs to former ESB retail workers . . . and the move paid off, with more than 200 "colleagues" (as they are now known) coming across. This makes up about 80% of the staff requirements of the 29 new branches that have opened to date.

The former ESB workers would have had good retail experience, and, although they would not have been involved in financial services, they underwent the same six-week training programme as any new staff member to bring them up to speed on product knowledge, regulations and, of course, the Halifax way.

So what has attracted them to Halifax?

"Our culture makes a big difference from an employment point of view, " said Chrissy Quinn, head of retail at Halifax. "We are a very open place to work, we are non-hierarchical, and everybody is treated like an individual."

This openness can be seen throughout the branches, where staff are not cloistered behind partitions or glass. There is even a meeter/greeter who welcomes customers to the branches, and part of the training for Halifax colleagues is a confidence and a competence to allow them to offer this sort of service to customers.

"People applying for a job at Halifax don't necessarily need any experience, " said Quinn. "We are looking for customer focused people and who are sales oriented."

Halifax is still recruiting for its new branches, and it intends to open a further 17 branches bringing the total number in Ireland up to 46.

There are jobs available for customer advisers, mortgage advisers and branch managers, as well as underwriters and telesales people. There are also some specialist roles available, and, by its very presence in Ireland, Halifax is creating a number of new jobs for people with these specialist skills.