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NatWest and RBS customers frustrated by technical hitches NatWest and RBS customers frustrated by technical hitches
(about 3 hours later)
Millions of NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland customers have been hit by technical problems which have resulted in balances not being updated and online services being unavailable. Royal Bank of Scotland was forced to keep at least 1,000 NatWest branches open until 7pm on Thursday following a technical glitch that caused chaos for millions of customers.
A message on the banks' websites reads: "We are currently experiencing some technical issues which means that account balances have not been updated, and are still showing a balance from Wednesday. Some services are also unavailable online. We are working hard to fix this issue as soon as possible and will keep you updated on progress." The problem, which resulted in balances not being updated and online services being unavailable throughout the day, left some customers unable to pay for goods and services and unsure how much money they had in their accounts.
It is thought the glitch only affects UK personal banking and business customers, of which there are more than 8 million combined, but NatWest was unable to confirm the details at the time of writing. A spokeswoman would only say: "It's an IT problem. Everyone's attention has been diverted to this area until it has been fixed." Consumers started reporting problems first thing in the morning and services only started to come back on track in the early evening. A spokeswoman for RBS said that "no one would be out of pocket" as a result of the technical problems – indicating that the group would compensate customers who incur additional costs.
The bank could not say how long it would take for them to solve the problem but it would be keeping more than 1,000 branches open until 7pm to deal with customer inquiries. For most of the day a message on the NatWest website read: "We are currently experiencing some technical issues which means that account balances have not been updated, and are still showing a balance from Wednesday. Some services are also unavailable online. We are working hard to fix this issue as soon as possible and will keep you updated on progress."
Customers have reported being unable to access their bank accounts online and, due to balances not being updated, being unable to pay for goods and services. Small business customers have reported that they are unable to pay staff. RBS would not say how many customers were affected, but NatWest has 7.5 million UK personal banking customers and almost one million business customers. Some RBS customers were also affected, but the bank said "to a lesser extent".
Hundreds of customers were posting angry messages on Twitter about the banks's IT failure. One wrote: "Thanks to your servers being down, I can't check out of my hotel. So I'm missing my flight home from Venice. Thanks." It is not clear what went wrong. A spokeswoman would only say: "It's an IT problem. Everyone's attention has been diverted to this area until it has been fixed."
Another stated: "Disabled people with shopping deliveries are not getting food & essentials thanks to no money going in bank." Customers reported being unable to pay bills or buy goods and small business customers reported problems paying staff.
There were repeated threats from customers to switch their account away from the banks. One user wrote: "I'll be moving my account as soon as I can." The glitch led to hundreds of customers posting angry messages on Twitter about the banks's failure. One wrote: "Thanks to your servers being down, I can't check out of my hotel. So I'm missing my flight home from Venice. Thanks."
Another stated: "Disabled people with shopping deliveries are not getting food and essentials thanks to no money going in banks."
There were repeated threats from customers to switch their account away from the banks. One user wrote: "I'll be moving my account as soon as I can."
Reports also circulated on Twitter about a crowd of angry customers gathering outside a NatWest branch in Reading after being unable to access their accounts.Reports also circulated on Twitter about a crowd of angry customers gathering outside a NatWest branch in Reading after being unable to access their accounts.
Ulster Bank, also owned by NatWest's parent company RBS, has flagged up the same technical issue with its customers. NatWest took a leaf out of HSBC's book by taking to Twitter to try and calm customers. In November 2011 technical problems prevented HSBC customers from accessing its online banking service and withdrawing money from some ATMs and branches. In response, HSBC's press office used its Twitter account to keep customers updated.
In a series of messages posted on Twitter throughout the day, NatWest repeatedly apologised to customers, adding: "Staff at our call centres are also ready to answer questions and help where they can."
By the end of the day, NatWest said people were "starting to get paid" and balances were starting to show correctly, but could not say when everything would be fixed.
In a later statement, Grant McDonald, head of group communications at RBS, said: "It was caused by a failure of our systems to properly update customers' balances overnight.
"This is an unacceptable inconvenience for our customers, for which we apologise. We can assure our customers that this problem is strictly of a technical nature and we can also confirm that no customers will be permanently out of pocket as a result of this."