Don’t bank on web

BANKS love the internet because it allows them to do away with branches and cashpoints, and the staff who service them.

Great news for chief executives and shareholders, but not so good for customers when IT systems crash and they are left – as Treasury select committee MP Steve Baker puts it – ‘cashless and cut off’.

In a damning report, the committee slams the big banks for failure-prone online operations that leave people locked out of their accounts and saddled with penalty charges for unpaid bills.

Witness the IT disaster at TSB last year, which stripped 1.9million people of online services for weeks, plunging lives into chaos.

For too long, banks have pushed an electronic, cashless model that puts them first and customers second. This is why the Mail has fought so vigorously (and successfully) to persuade Barclays not to end access to its accounts at post offices – vital for vulnerable people living in areas devoid of conventional bank branches.

It’s a situation which is particulary acute in rural Scotland, where in certain communities the closure of branches and ATMs has left some customers forced to travel miles – and even embark on a ferry crossing – to access their money for free. Regulators need the powers to ensure that unwarranted IT failures are punished severely.

Secure internet banking works well for many but it should not be a smokescreen for obscuring the destruction of traditional ways of accessing money. Banks must maintain a human face.