A threat by bank staff to stop holding keys to banks and cash from next weekend has been temporarily lifted pending the outcome of "crucial talks" with bank management on safety.
The Irish Bank Officials Association has suspended the threatened action following "constructive" talks aimed at securing greater protection for key-holding members.
Talks involving the IBOA, the Garda Síochána, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the major banks have been under way for several months following a number of "tiger" kidnappings.
While no agreement on specific protection measures has yet been reached, IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said some progress has been made.
In light of that progress, the IBOA executive had decided it would be "irresponsible" to issue a directive to members to refuse to hold keys from Saturday next, he said.
The issuing of such a directive was being deferred to see if agreement could be reached in the coming weeks in continuing crucial talks, he said.
One of the difficulties was that not all of the major banks had a clear policy on safety, Mr Broderick said.
Among the issues being discussed at the safety meetings is responsibility for key-holding and the funding by the banks of safety measures for keyholders.
The IBOA executive will review the situation relating to each of the banks next month, Mr Broderick added.
IBOA members voted at their annual conference last April to give their union's executive the power to instruct members to refuse to act as keyholders unless meaningful security measures were taken.
That resolution followed the kidnappings of a number of bank officials last year and earlier this year. The so-called "tiger" kidnappings involved bank officials and their families being stalked by criminal gangs. The officials would then be forced to remove cash from workplaces while their families were kidnapped and held hostage.
Mr Broderick said there was "no doubt that bank officials and their families feel very vulnerable at the moment, particularly to tiger kidnapping".
"We are not prepared to allow profit to come before our members and their families," he said.
