Thousands caught up in online banking failure
Late-night opening for 1,000 RBS and Natwest banks as payments not made
rBs cUstoMers are among more than 100,000 whose bank accounts were hit by a technical fault that saw payments frozen, benefits stopped and access to their balance details blocked.
the system collapse also affected natWest and Ulster Bank and led rBs group to keep more than 1,000 branches open until 7pm last night to help customers.
the fault meant some balances were not properly updated with overnight payments, leaving individuals and businesses potentially missing out on salaries and other vital transactions.
rBs apologised last night for the “unacceptable inconvenience”, and said customers would not be left out of pocket as a result of the problems.
Ulster Bank said 100,000 of its custom- ers had been affected by “a major technical issue”.
An rBs spokesman said: “this is a technical problem affecting a large number of natWest and Ulster Bank customers, and a small number of rBs customers, including some of our business customers.
“It was caused by a failure of our systems to properly update customers’ balances overnight. the main problem customers are having is where people have had money go into their accounts
overnight, there may be a delay in it showing on their balance.
“This is an unacceptable inconvenience for customers, for which we apologise.”
he said the problem would be fixed “as soon as possible” and no customers would be left permanently out of pocket.
The spokesman said: “We will be keeping over 1,000 NatWest branches in all major towns and cities open until 7pm [last night] to assist customers who are unable to get to their branch during working hours.”
Susan Allen, from retail banking at RBS, assured customers that their money was safe.
She said that the issue
was