EBS d.a.c. is a financial institution in Ireland registered as a designated activity company and was the country's largest building society until 1 July 2011. EBS has more than 400,000 customers and distributes its products through a branch and franchised agency network. It handles direct business by telephone and the Internet. The institution's previous name was Educational Building Society, which reflected the role played by school teachers in its establishment, but "Educational" was later replaced by "EBS", forming a redundant acronym.
History
EBS Building Society was founded in 1935 by Alex McCabe and other teachers to provide affordable housing finance for teachers and other civil servants. EBS was one of the last two Irish building societies owned by their members but since July 2011, has been a subsidiary of AIB Bank. With 70 branches throughout Ireland, EBS offers residential and commercial mortgages, personal loans, savings accounts, investment products and a financial planning service. It formerly did not offer current accounts using its own resources and instead through an agreement with Allied Irish Banks, an ATM card service was operated using AIB's Banklink system. This has now been withdrawn and a debit card is provided in conjunction with MasterCard. Similarly, credit cards were formerly offered in conjunction with MBNA. In the 2004 and 2005 "Ireland Great Place to Work" awards, EBS was named as the "Best Company to work for in Ireland with 500-1000 employees". In both these years, EBS was also named as one of the top 100 Best Places to Work in Europe. In 2006, EBS became a tied insurance agent of Irish Life, PLC for the provision of life and investments products. All investment products sold through EBS are managed by Irish Life Investment Managers. During 2007, a wholly owned subsidiary was established. Haven Mortgages focusses exclusively on the broker market as a separate lender in its own right. On 1 July 2011, EBS Building Society ceased to exist and, after being granted a banking licence, and demutualising, EBS Building Society became EBS Ltd., a subsidiary of AIB. On 12 September 2016, EBS Limited re-registered as a designated activity company, as required under the Companies Act 2014. The registered name of the legal entity is now EBS d.a.c.
