Some 3,000 bank assistants at the Bank of Ireland are to receive pay increases of over 18 per cent.
The bulk of the increases, worth between £1,200 and £2,000 a year, are backdated to April 1st.
The general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials' Association, Mr Ciaran Ryan, said the union was to seek similar pay rises for around 4,000 bank assistants in the other banks.
It is the second significant pay rise negotiated for bank assistants by the IBOA since the new grade was introduced in 1989.
The last increase was in 1994 and Mr Ryan said the response of members to the new deal, which was the subject of investigation by an independent tribunal, had been "very encouraging".
The entry grade for BoI bank assistants will rise from £10,794 to £12,200, an increase of 13 per cent.
This is on top of the 5.5 per cent increase due under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness at the beginning of August, bringing the total increase to almost 19 per cent.
The salary scale has also been shortened from 14 points to 13. Pay at the top of the new scale will be £19,750, compared with £18,385 on the old scale. This means an increase of 7.4 per cent.
However, most staff will receive increases worth over 11 per cent from the adjustments. The largest increase, of 13.7 per cent, goes to staff on point two of the scale. Their pay will rise by over 19 per cent this year, when the first phase of the PPF is taken into account.
The bank assistant grade was introduced in 1989 to displace the higher-paid bank official grade. The union acceded at the time because of the high rate of unemployment.
But in a tightening labour market, financial institutions, like all employers, are having to offer better terms to attract and retain good staff.
Last July, Irish Life and Permanent gave an 8 per cent pay rise to over 800 existing staff in return for being allowed to offer higher rates to new recruits. The old entry rate had been as low as £10,000, but now the company can offer as much as £15,750 to recruits, depending on qualifications and experience.
In June a Dublin weighting of £2,000 a year was negotiated by the IBOA for Ulster Bank employees working in Dublin, to compensate them for the higher cost of living.