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| Cost cutting to blame for RBS's Cyber Monday card glitch, says union | Cost cutting to blame for RBS's Cyber Monday card glitch, says union |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Union leaders have claimed cost cutting was to blame for technical faults which left millions of Royal Bank of Scotland customers unable to pay for purchases and withdraw cash on Monday and called on the bank to halt its redundancy programme. | |
| Unite, Britain's biggest union, said the 30,000 job losses announced by the bailed-out bank since 2008 and the offshoring of IT functions had left it unable to provide a proper service to customers, who experienced the problems on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. | |
| Dominic Hook, Unite national officer, said: "It is unacceptable that the bank's customers are once again facing inconvenience. Unite has grave concerns that staffing challenges are exacerbating the problems facing the bank, challenges that could be further amplified when the chief executive announces the outcomes of his strategic review in February. | Dominic Hook, Unite national officer, said: "It is unacceptable that the bank's customers are once again facing inconvenience. Unite has grave concerns that staffing challenges are exacerbating the problems facing the bank, challenges that could be further amplified when the chief executive announces the outcomes of his strategic review in February. |
| "Serious questions must be asked as to why constant job cuts are being made when there are clearly serious issues which need addressing by management." | "Serious questions must be asked as to why constant job cuts are being made when there are clearly serious issues which need addressing by management." |
| The RBS chief executive, Ross McEwan, apologised for the "unacceptable" technical faults, which he blamed on years of underinvestment. | |
| He said: "Last night's systems failure was unacceptable. Yesterday was a busy shopping day and far too many of our customers were let down. | He said: "Last night's systems failure was unacceptable. Yesterday was a busy shopping day and far too many of our customers were let down. |
| "For decades, RBS failed to invest properly in its systems. We need to put our customers' needs at the centre of all we do. It will take time, but we are investing heavily in building IT systems our customers can rely on. We know we have to do better." | "For decades, RBS failed to invest properly in its systems. We need to put our customers' needs at the centre of all we do. It will take time, but we are investing heavily in building IT systems our customers can rely on. We know we have to do better." |
| McEwan said he would be announcing plans to improve RBS in the new year, including an outline of how the bank intends to invest in the future. | McEwan said he would be announcing plans to improve RBS in the new year, including an outline of how the bank intends to invest in the future. |
| Earlier on Tuesday RBS took to Twitter to apologise to furious customers, promising to compensate those left out of pocket as a result of the failure, which mainly affected customers between 6.30pm and 9.30pm on Monday. | |
| Customers of RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank were unable to complete transactions using their debit cards, or withdraw money from cash machines on the day dubbed Cyber Monday because it is traditionally the busiest day of the year for online shopping as consumers prepare for Christmas. | |
| Susan Allen, director of customer solutions at RBS, said it was still unclear exactly what went wrong. | Susan Allen, director of customer solutions at RBS, said it was still unclear exactly what went wrong. |
| "We put all our focus on getting it fixed and we now start the detailed work on what went wrong. We understand the impact on our customers. It is completely unacceptable that customers couldn't access their own money," she told BBC Radio 5 live. | "We put all our focus on getting it fixed and we now start the detailed work on what went wrong. We understand the impact on our customers. It is completely unacceptable that customers couldn't access their own money," she told BBC Radio 5 live. |
| "The investigations would suggest it is completely unrelated to the volumes on Cyber Monday." | "The investigations would suggest it is completely unrelated to the volumes on Cyber Monday." |
| It is thought millions of customers were affected as card payments were declined and some customers could not access the banks' websites or smartphone apps. Typically around 250,000 RBS customers will use a cash machine every hour. | It is thought millions of customers were affected as card payments were declined and some customers could not access the banks' websites or smartphone apps. Typically around 250,000 RBS customers will use a cash machine every hour. |
| Allen insisted the bank would "put this right for customers". | Allen insisted the bank would "put this right for customers". |
| RBS advised any customers still experiencing "issues" to get in touch with its call centres or branches, despite saying the problems were now resolved. | RBS advised any customers still experiencing "issues" to get in touch with its call centres or branches, despite saying the problems were now resolved. |
| Guardian readers reported they were still experiencing problems accessing their accounts on Tuesday morning, while others expressed anger about the lack of communication from the bank. | Guardian readers reported they were still experiencing problems accessing their accounts on Tuesday morning, while others expressed anger about the lack of communication from the bank. |
| One reader, petey123, wrote: "So nothing on their website or by email about this, until I find out on the Guardian why my card wasn't working. Oh, but you put it on twitter. great." | One reader, petey123, wrote: "So nothing on their website or by email about this, until I find out on the Guardian why my card wasn't working. Oh, but you put it on twitter. great." |
| The failure is a huge embarrassment for RBS, following similar glitches 18 months ago when IT problems locked many customers out of their accounts for several days. It cost the bank £175m to fix the problem and pay compensation to the customers affected. Stephen Hester, RBS chief executive at the time, waived a bonus potentially worth more than £2m as a result of the disruption in June last year. | |
| It comes at a low point for RBS amid allegations that it is deliberately wrecking viable small businesses to boost profits. City regulators and the bank itself are investigating the allegations. | It comes at a low point for RBS amid allegations that it is deliberately wrecking viable small businesses to boost profits. City regulators and the bank itself are investigating the allegations. |
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