Halifax takes a year out to rebuild online investments Website

UK banking group Halifax is to shut down its online investments Web site for a whole year while it builds a new site, advising customers instead to use the call centre and branch network to manage their accounts.

In a letter to customers, Halifax says the site will be unavailable until April 2012 and advises users to print off screen-based information before the current site shuts down on 18 April.

The letter says: "We plan to bring back an online investment service by April 2012 along with more enhancements over the coming months, including an exciting new mobile banking service. In the meantime you'll still be able to do all the things you do online now over the phone..."

In October, Lloyds Banking Group announced plans to cut 4500 IT jobs as it completes the integration of systems between Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

Hat-tip to The Register: British bank shuts Website until April 2012

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Comments: (3)

A Finextra member 07 April, 2011, 17:38

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This is beyond appalling and moving into the domain of amateur, the CIO and the project team under this initiative have lost their minds and should be removed. They are an absolute hazard for the organisation if that is the best they can come up with.
What is wrong with these British banks imaging advising customers to do the following:
Print off screen information now before we kick you out and you can always use the telephone to keep up to date for the next 365 days.
If I was a customer of this organisation I would close my account, I would certainly be writing a letter of complaint to the UK banking ombudsman.

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Gareth Jones - Ubiquiem - London 08 April, 2011, 11:09

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This is surely an April 1 post not April 7? Unbelievable!

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A Finextra member 11 April, 2011, 09:59

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Here it is:

Investments

After 18th April 2011 you won’t be able to top up, view or manage your investment accounts online.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and want to thank you for your patience as we build a better online banking service for the future. We plan to bring back an online investment service by April 2012 along with more enhancements over the coming months including a new mobile banking service.

Until then, you’ll still be able to manage all of your investments over the phone - we’ll make sure you have all the support you need.

To top up your ISA Investor call our dedicated team on 0800 011 3632 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0800 011 3632 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Lines are open Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 2pm.
For information about any of your other investments, please contact us.
To book an appointment with a financial adviser for a full financial review.

If you'd like to keep a copy of your most recent valuation, contribution history or any other investment information, please print these off on or by 18th April 2011. We'll continue to send your statements by post so you can keep track of your investments.