How the massive IT fiasco unfolded

THE full extent of the IT shambles at TSB was laid bare last month, when the bank reported a £107million loss for the six months to June.

That contrasted sharply with a profit of almost the same amount a year ago.

It’s thought the full cost of the fiasco could spiral to £229million.

The troubles started on April 20, when TSB began transferring the records and accounts of their 5.2million customers from a system operated by their former owners, Lloyds Banking Group, to one designed by their current owners, the Spanish bank Sabadell.

Two days later, it was obvious the IT migration had not gone to plan as customers reported a range of problems – but TSB tried to play down the “access issues”.

By April 24, the botched upgrade became a full-blown crisis as up to 1.9million of TSB’s online and mobile customers remained locked out of their accounts.

In the early hours of April 25, chief executive Paul Pester tweeted: “Our mobile banking app and online banking are now up and running.”

But the very next day he admitted: “We’re on our knees.”

Customers data was lost and accounts were inaccessible, in some cases for many weeks.

Pester was left grasping for explanations. He was called to appear before MPs more than once and was slammed by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Announcing the bank’s latest results at the end of July, he insisted they were “getting back on track” and remained “committed to putting things right”.

On July 25, TSB said 135,403 complaints had been recorded. A team of more than 260 people have been tasked with looking into them.