System failures: addressing the elephant in the room

The banking industry has a history of suffering system failures, but little has been done to prevent this type of disruption happening again. Is better business continuity the way forward in an era of risk and uncertainty, and should banks do more to plan for this?

A technical glitch that left 275,000 HSBC customers from receiving their monthly salaries ahead of the 2015 August Bank Holiday Weekend has renewed concerns both in the UK and globally regarding how well banking systems are maintained and updated.

Whilst historically system failures have affected many of Britain’s major financial institutions, banks have increasingly found themselves under the microscope over the last few years, as the UK economy has grown staunchly from the 2008 financial crisis. As a result, any anomalies triggered by a bank that affected businesses and consumers’ ability to access their dues have automatically made front page headlines.

With daily pressure, it comes as no surprise that banks are starting to consider solutions for business continuity and contingency planning, with the aim of safeguarding their reputations and retaining customers.

Have any banks acted on this – and what next?

If the 2008 financial crisis has taught financial institutions anything, it is that they need to put in place responsible contingency plans and business continuity processes in order to avert bringing themselves into disrepute.

Whilst payment system outages are not the same scale as a global financial crash, contingency channels offered to customers – whether consumers or corporates – when they are unable to make payments through their primary banking link, could help banks avoid compensation costs and investigations from regulatory bodies, along with improving credibility amongst customers.

With NatWest suffering problems only a few days after the HSBC failure and RBS’s 600,000 lost payments fiasco earlier in the year, banks need to act now to prevent further complications. They must set their sights on exceeding customer expectations while minimising losses, by delivering a robust contingency service in the eventuality that their primary banking channel may fail.