Bank of Ireland has said it will refund charges, backdated to 24 February, for customers sending money to friends, family or colleagues in Ukraine as the country continues to resist invasion by neighbouring Russia.

The bank has also committed to supporting displaced Ukrainians in need of banking services, including guidance on transferring assets and any other assistance.

Bank of Ireland currently offers advice on opening accounts in 18 languages and will translate the documents into Ukrainian to be uploaded onto its website as soon as possible.

The company will also donate €100,000 to UNICEF to deliver aid to people fleeing the conflict while the financial services sector more generally is playing a role in applying sanctions on Russia and payments screening.

"Bank of Ireland is applying all enhanced international banking sanctions that have been introduced since the invasion commenced, and stands ready to do more as directed by the international regulatory and political response," a spokesperson said.

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"Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people. We will continue to closely monitor unfolding events and add to our response."

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday moved to exclude seven Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) secure financial messaging service.

The banks -- VTB, along with Bank Otrkitie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank and VEB --have been given 10 days to wind down their SWIFT transactions.

Banks on the list were selected because of their "implicit connection to the war effort," according to a senior EU official.

"All these banks that we have listed under SWIFT they are all based on their connection to the state and the implicit connection to the war effort. We have not gone for a blanket ban across the whole banking system," the EU official said.

The EU has made an exception for Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, along with Gazprombank, as they are both used as the main payment line for European countries to pay for Russia's gas and oil.

Bank of Ireland reported a net profit of €1.1bn for 2021 and announced divideds of €54m and €50m for ordinary share buyback on Monday after reducing costs by 4%, and staff costs by 8%, last year.

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