The Bank of Ireland, also known as the Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland is a commercial bank operation in the Republic of Ireland, one of the Big Four. The bank was formed by an Act of the Irish Parliament in 1782 to support public and commercial finances in Ireland. The headquarters of the bank is the impressive, Bank of Ireland building in Dublin. This building hosted the Irish Parliament before the Act of Union 1800. Today visitors can still view the impressive Irish House of Lords chamber within the building.
Today the bank is based throughout the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, it offers the Laser payment system. In Northern Ireland, the bank prints its own banknotes in Pound Sterling. In the UK, the bank expanded largely through the takeover of the Bristol and West Building Society in 1996.
Until the 1970s, the Bank of Ireland was the government's banker but not the central bank. The central bank was only formed twenty years after the Irish Free State and was called the Central Bank of Ireland.