TSB is take its online and mobile systems offline in an attempt to get to the bottom of a botched IT account switchover after it migrated accounts from a legacy Lloyds platform to the Proteo4 system from new owner Banco Sabadell.
The IT crisis at the UK bank has moved into its fifth day, with politicians rounding on the bank over the distastrous switchover, which has seen customers complain about missing payments, unexplained credits and views into the accounts of strangers.
Nicky Morgan, the chair of Parliament’s influential Treasury committee, has written to TSB chief Paul Pester demanding answers over the fiasco.
“The reports of unauthorised transactions, access to other customers’ accounts, and failures of in-branch services have all the hallmarks of an IT meltdown," she says. "TSB customers deserve to know what has happened, when normal services will resume, and how they can expect to be compensated."
Stung into action, TSB's Pester has finally taken to Twitter to apologise for the breakdown and to outline the next steps in its attempt to fix the problems.
Web developers observing the calamity from the sidelines are professing alarm over the bank's handling of the meltdown.
Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of money.co.uk, says the bank should compensate anyone who loses out.
“TSB are not the only bank to have these issues and our banks really need to pull their socks up because this keeps happening again and again. It’s really not good enough when so many customers are being encouraged to bank online," she says. “It’s worrying when your bank can’t keep on top of their IT systems and can cause lots of other problems if payments aren’t made or funds aren’t available. We hope that TSB customers wouldn’t be left out of pocket as a result of these issues.”
TSB isn't the only bank battling with IT gremlins; RBS-owned Ulster Bank is also in the wars, with customers complaining that money has been disappearing from their accounts. The bank, which was hit with multi-million pound fines in the wake of a previous IT meltdown, is offering emergency funding to customers affected by the glitch.