You may now submit your request for voluntary redundancy at AIB

It's finally happened: yesterday, AIB started accepting applications for voluntary severance.

The bank will reportedly be offering its 2,500 staff four weeks' pay per year of service, including their statutory entitlement, or three weeks' pay per year of service, plus statutory entitlement. Severance pay will be capped at two years of annual salary, or €225k - whichever is higher.

The terms are in line with those offered by Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland, but are considerably below the six weeks' pay per year of service that was being offered by Bank of Ireland last year.

As was reported earlier this week, AIB is also offering staff over 50 the opportunity to take earlier retirement - an option which is expected to account for a large proportion of its departures. The voluntary retirement programme won't be extended to all staff immediately and will run in phases until 2014. Staff who opt for early retirement are expected to leave before the end of this year.