Time for the big banks to invest in technology

BANKS ARE entrusted with our money and yet increasingly are not providing adequate safeguards. In years past, strong armed characters would stand around the entrance but the criminal today is more likely to be online.

It is high time banks woke up to this fact and installed modern technology to ensure our funds are safe whilst in their care.

As the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has provided a partial service in revealing some of the incidents where bank customers have been unable to access their accounts.

It is amazing that such a report is not comprehensive. It omits occasions when fewer than 5,000 bank clients have been affected or when access is denied for less than two hours or the sum involved does not exceed 100,000 euros (around £88,000).

Just how many total incidents of bank failure online will not be revealed. Perhaps this is a touchy subject but it suggests too cosy a relationship between the regulator and the companies it is supervising.

Yet the multiple occasions when banks failed are worrying. No less than 336 major problems occurred in one year (July 2018June 2019) of which Barclays admitted the most with 33 failures to access.

The persistent technology failures by the TSB are well known. It is by no means alone. The TSB may have been criticised at Westminster last year but should not suffer opprobrium alone.

Almost every day customers encounter a computer problem with their bank which may involve internet security. Far greater priority should be given to updating systems to ensure banks can cope with the modern digital age.

Those who have opened accounts with the so-called ‘challenger’ banks are being provided with a superior service with Starling reporting no incidents and Monzo revealing just two. Their larger banking colleagues appear unable to get to grips properly with the internet.