Ulster Bank is a large commercial bank, one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities, Ulster Bank Limited and Ulster Bank Ireland DAC; the Group's headquarters is located on George's Quay, Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland whilst the official headquarters of UBL is in Donegall Square East, Belfast, in Northern Ireland, it maintains a large sector of the financial services in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Established in 1836, Ulster Bank was acquired by the Westminster Bank in 1917; as a direct subsidiary of National Westminster Bank, it became part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group in 2000. It has 146 branches in the Republic of Ireland and 90 in Northern Ireland with over 1,200 non-charging ATMs; the Group has over 1.9 million clients. Ulster Bank was founded as The Ulster Banking Company in Belfast in 1836; the bank was formed by a breakaway faction of shareholders in the newly formed National Bank of Ireland, founded in 1835, who objected to the latter bank's plan to invest profits from the bank in London rather than in Belfast.

The founding directors of the bank were John Heron, Robert Grimshaw, John Currell a linen bleacher from Ballymena, James Steen, a Belfast pork curer. In 2002 three Ulster Bank employees were arrested on charges of money laundering; the three were responsible for the destruction of old banknotes at the bank's former Waring Street cash centre. Between November 2001 and February 2002 they were accused of stealing £900,000 of used banknotes designated for disposal; the money was placed in various bank and building society accounts. On 23 January 2004 the men were jailed for two and a half years for the theft of £770,000. Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr criticised the bank's security measures during the trial. In 2003/2004, Ulster Bank Group purchased First Active, Ireland's oldest building society, for €887 million. In 2009, the First Active branch network and business of several hundred thousand savers and borrowers was merged with Ulster Bank, the brand name was retired in 2010. In June 2012 a computer system failure prevented customers from accessing accounts.

Initial estimates that the problem would be sorted out within a week were wildly optimistic with thousands of customers still unable to access their accounts into late July 2012, with ongoing issues still not resolved by mid August 2012. This RBS / NatWest / Ulster Bank issue has proved to be one of the largest IT failures the world has known. Ulster Bank has set aside £28M for compensation to customers. In March 2014 it was reported that the RBS Group was considering merging the bank in the Republic of Ireland with some of its rivals in order to reduce its holding. RBS Group's annual results for 2013 revealed Ulster Bank had operating losses of £1.5 billion and accounted for a fifth of the parent group's total bad debt charges. In October 2014 RBS confirmed it would retain Ulster Bank following improved market conditions in Ireland. Ulster Bank provide a full range of banking and insurance services to personal and commercial customers. In Northern Ireland the bank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Ulster Bank Limited is a member of the Financial Services Compensation UK Finance. In the Republic of Ireland, the bank is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland; the bank provides Visa Debit cards to customers with their current accounts, having issued Maestro and Laser debit cards to NI and ROI customers in addition to other financial services. It launched 15 new commitments to its retail customers in September 2010. Ulster Bank is used by RBS to deposit funds invested through the popular Royal Deposit Plan. From 1968 until 2005, Ulster Bank's logo was three chevrons – identical to that of the National Westminster Bank, its owner; the bank changed to the RBS "daisy wheel" logo and typeface style in October 2005. The bank is one of the four banks. In common with the other Big Four banks of Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank retains the right to issue its own banknotes; these are pound sterling notes and equal in value to Bank of England notes, should not be confused with banknotes of the former Irish pound.

Ulster Bank's current notes all share the same design of a view of Belfast harbour flanked by landscape views. The principal difference between the denominations is their size. Notes incorporate the RBS "daisy wheel" logo, having incorporated the NatWest chevrons until 2006. 5 pound note, grey 10 pound note, blue-green 20 pound note, purple 50 pound note, blueIn November 2006 Ulster Bank issued its first commemorative banknote – an issue of one million £5 notes commemorating the first anniversary of the death of former Northern Irish and Manchester United footballer, George Best. This was the first Ulster Bank banknote to incorporate the RBS "daisy wheel", the entire issue was taken by collectors within hours of becoming available in bank branches. In 2019, Ulster Bank will be issuing a new series of banknotes printed in polymer, will be replacing its paper equivalents in circulation. On 8 February 2008, Ulster Bank Group Chief Executive, Cormac McCarthy, announced a three-year sponsorship deal worth over £1m for the Belfast Festival at Queen's.

It was hailed as a "new dawn" for the festival which had been

"Hohoemi no Bakudan" is a 1992 single recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Matsuko Mawatari. This is her second single from her second album Nice Unbalance, it reached the 45 position on the Japanese charts in 1992 and again in 2005, reaching number 187 for one week. "Hohoemi no Bakudan" in 2004 was, charted together with the song "Unbalance na Kiss wo Shite" by Hiro Takahashi. B-side of the single features a song from her first album Aitashi Gakunari Gatashi, "Homework ga Owaranai""; this song became the opening theme of the anime series YuYu Hakusho and is included on its compilation album Sai-Kyou Best Selection Album. Shoko Nakagawa, 2010 album Shoko-tan Cover 3: Anison wa Jinrui o Tsunagu. Megumi Ogata, album YuYu Hakusho. Mariya Ise Atsuko Enomoto Atsushi Abe Hisayoshi Suganuma Marina Inoue Sara White

Mutomo District was a former district in the Eastern Province of Kenya. Its population is 180,000; the administrative center of the district is Mutomo. In 2010, it was merged into Kitui County. Mutomo district was one of the poorest areas in Kenya, it is without tarmac roads, lacks electricity or plumbing in homes. The chronic, severe drought affecting all of Kenya has affected this area; the climate is semi-arid and rainfall is unpredictable. Lack of clean water is one of the area's primary problems and the population depends on seasonal rainfall. Available water from dams and seasonal rivers, which must be carried by the people in the area to their homes, is contaminated and green with algae. Contaminated water can result in waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. In 2009 there was a cholera outbreak in parts of the district in which seven died, 1,134 people were diagnosed with the disease; the severe shortage of water and poor sanitation were related to the outbreak, according to authorities, the capacity of hospitals was strained.

The Kenya Red Cross Society, Kitui branch, outlined a program in July 2011 to be implemented in two areas of the Mutomo District and Kanziku that have badly contaminated water, lasting until the following April. The program distributed portable water filters called "Lifestraw filters and LifeStaw Family filters" which come in two sizes: one small enough for school children to hang around their necks, a larger filter supplied for household use; the small filter lasts the larger one is good for five years. The program aimed to supply 6,750 households. Both the school children and adult residents were excited about their filters. One school pupil, Kambua Mwanzia, said the children had been trained in the use of the filter and that besides cleaning the water it removed smells, she said. The purpose of the non-profit Mutomo Projects is to improve the lives of the people in the Mutomo District by encouraging community participation, including contributions of labor. Many of its projects are geared toward sustainable development and the creation of microcredit groups for funding.

Ekani no longer has a dispensary. Although built, it was never operated due to lack of funding; the Ekani Community Development Programme, an NGO, seeks to reduce poverty in Ekani by starting developmental projects in a variety of areas, including water, health care and education. Districts of Kenya New ALIN video on harvesting rainwater from rock catchments in Kenya’s dry areas Climate & Development Knowledge Network The influence of sponsorship programs on pupils retention rates in primary schools, Mutomo district Kitui county, Kenya by Harun Githinji Gachanja Drought in Kenya: Climatic and Socio-Political Factors by Serigne T. Kandji in New Standpoints, November–December 2006