- Today's glitch left thousands struggling to use cards at ATMs and in stores
- Bank says problem had 'minimal customer impact' and only affected a few
- But customers blasted problem on Twitter as 'pathetic' and 'very poor'
- Yesterday bank was forced to pay hefty fine for its 2012 IT meltdown
- Also recently hit with £400million penalty for part in Libor-fixing scandal
Many
RBS customers were left seething today after a glitch left them unable
to use their credit or debit cards at store checkouts and ATMs.
The
issue, which comes just one day after the bank was fined £56million for
a huge IT meltdown in 2012, also affected those with sister
banks NatWest and Ulster Bank.
An
RBS spokesman insisted the issue only affected those attempting to make
higher-value payments or transactions abroad - resulting in 'minimal
customer impact'.
Many Royal Bank of Scotland customers
were left seething today after a glitch left them unable to use their
cards at store checkouts and ATMs
But
many customers vented their fury on Twitter over the glitch - slamming
RBS as 'pathetic' and a 'bunch of clowns' on the bank's helpline page.
One
frustrated customer asked the bank: 'When can we expect a resolution to
the card issue? Trying to book an emergency flight home and this is
extremely time sensitive.'
Another complained on Natwest's website of payments failing to be processed.
The
customer wrote: 'Did a Tesco shop yesterday, everything went through.
Advised this morning by Tesco that the payment did not go through.'
The
customer, who described the situation as 'very poor', said they had
been told by the bank that an issue was affecting a number of Visa debit
card customers.
Another
customer, who registered his complaint on Twitter, said: 'Debit card
transactions not working! When is this going to be resolved? Pathetic.'
Frustration: Customers vented their
fury on Twiiter this morning after finding themselves unable to use
their cards at ATMs and in stores
RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton has
said that since the 2012 IT crash, which cost the firm a £56million fine
yesterday, the bank has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on
increasing the resilience of its systems
The problems started at 7.45am and were resolved by 9.15am, the bank said.
A
statement from RBS said: 'A small number of customers experienced
issues early this morning while using their RBS, NatWest and Ulster Visa
debit and credit cards.
'There was minimal customer impact and the issue was quickly resolved.'
Yesterday,
the bank was landed with penalties totalling £56million by regulators
over its huge systems crash in 2012, which also affected customers of
RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank.
Former chief executive Stephen Hester
forfeited his bonus of up to £2.4million over the 2012 IT fiasco at a
bank which is still 81 per cent owned by the taxpayer
RBS
chairman Sir Philip Hampton has said that since the incident, the bank
has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on increasing the resilience of
its IT systems.
RBS
admitted to 'unacceptable weaknesses' in its computer systems as around
6.5 million customers - equivalent to 10% of the UK population -
suffered disruption lasting for several weeks in some cases.
They
were unable to use online banking facilities or obtain accurate account
balances from ATMs. Mortgage payments were delayed and customers left
without cash in foreign countries.
The
issues in summer 2012 stemmed from a botched upgrade to the software
that processed updates to customers' accounts overnight.
When
it noticed problems with the upgrade the bank's central IT function
decided to uninstall it without first testing the consequences of that
action.
The
bank is investigating the underlying cause of today's problems, which
it said are unrelated to the meltdown of two years ago.
The
IT meltdown fine came just days after RBS was one of six banks fined
£2.6billion for rigging the £3trillion a day foreign exchange market.
The
bank was hit with a £400million penalty by UK and US regulators, with
regulators publishing damning transcripts of its traders bragging about
the conspiracy.
The
IT failure has raised concerns about the state backed lender’s creaking
computer systems which have continued to let down customers in recent
years.
RBS
suffered another systems outage in December on the busiest online
shopping day of the year, the third time in about 18 months that such a
problem had prevented customers from using cards, cash machines and
online banking services.
It
says it has been ploughing billions of pounds into bolstering its IT
systems to help ensure that similar problems do not reoccur.
The
lender recently pledged to invest an extra £1billion in its digital and
IT services as it attempts to persuade more of its customers to bank
online and on their mobile phones.
THE BANK THAT FELL TO EARTH: THE RISE AND DRAMATIC FALL OF RBS
Before the 2008 financial crisis, Royal Bank of Scotland was one of the largest and most aggressive banks in the world.
The
bank was founded in Edinburgh in 1727, but by the end of the 20th
century it was a major player in the City of London too as the UK
capital became the world's leading financial centre.
RBS
sealed its place at the top table of British banking in 2000 when it
bought NatWest, which dates back to 1650 and was considered one of the
'Big Four' retail banks in the UK.
Fred
Goodwin, right, became chief executive of RBS the following year and
pioneered a gung-ho expansion strategy with resources poured into its
investment banking division.
One
of the biggest deals came when RBS joined a consortium to buy Dutch
bank ABN Amro for £49billion, which was later revealed as a major
overvaluation.
With
the advent of the 2007 credit crunch and subsequent global financial
turmoil, RBS was exposed as being dangerously indebted and unable to
meet its obligations.
The
Labour Government felt it had no option but to step in, and in October
2008 it took a 57 per cent stake in the bank in return for £37billion of
new capital.
As the bank's losses spiralled and it required even more bail-out money, the state share of the firm rose to 82 per cent.
Much
of the blame for RBS's troubles was attributed to Goodwin, who was
forced to resign and subsequently stripped of the knighthood he had
received in 2004.
But
it has repeatedly denied reports that the problems in the summer of
2012 were caused by workers in the Indian city of Hyderabad, where it
set up an IT support centre to cut costs.
The
results of its internal investigation into the source of the failure
have yet to be published as it waits for the FCA’s verdict.
Last night one expert suggested RBS has escaped lightly.
David
Buik from broker Panmure Gordon said: ‘Given the size of the
trangression and the damage caused to customers this fine is nothing
more than symbolic.
We
are talking about a bank which could not even get the basics right -
stuff that affects people in their day to day life. It’s little wonder
there is a complete lack of trust between banks and their customers.’
