From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
2012 RBS Group computer system problems
The 2012 RBS computer system problems were technical issues affecting computers run by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (now NatWest Group), including National Westminster Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, which began on 19 June 2012.
In 2014, RBS was fined £42m over the incident.
Cause
A software update was applied on 19 June 2012 to RBS's CA-7 software{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624172434/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9352573/NatWest-customers-still-unable-to-see-bank-balances-on-sixth-day-of-glitch.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623181155/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9351101/NatWest-computer-glitch-fixed-but-backlog-remains.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 June 2012
Stephen Hester, CEO of the RBS Group, said that the problem was caused by a software upgrade.{{cite news |access-date=25 June 2012}} Unite union leaders criticised Hester's management of the episode, but Hester denied that the outsourcing of IT services to India was a factor in the problem, saying that the bank's IT services were mostly based in Edinburgh.{{cite news
Impact
Completions of new home purchases were delayed, and some people were stranded abroad. Another account holder was threatened with the discontinuation of their life support machine in a Mexican hospital, and one man was held in prison. As a result of the error, RBS and NatWest announced that over 1,200 of their busiest branches would extend their hours throughout the week, including the bank's first Sunday opening, to enable affected customers to access cash.{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626003207/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9353846/RBS-glitch-well-on-the-way-to-being-fixed-says-chief.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 June 2012
On 26 June, RBS admitted that some transactions were still affected by the problem. Ulster Bank said on Wednesday 27 June that it did not expect full services to be restored until the start of the following week, but that it hoped that the automatic payments backlog would be cleared by the weekend.{{cite news
On 3 July RBS admitted that some RBS and NatWest personal loan borrowers had accidentally been charged twice and newspapers advised RBS customers to check their balances.{{cite news
Customers of Ulster Bank were still having problems accessing cash on 2 July and the bank admitted that they did not know when customers would be able to access cash.{{cite news
RBS said on 4 July that the vast majority of Ulster Bank customers would have normal services restored by 16 July 2012.{{cite news
On 5 July the Ulster Bank CEO Jim Brown agreed to waive his annual bonus in response to the crisis.{{cite news
Reaction
United Kingdom
The Financial Services Authority asked other banks to treat customers of RBS fairly and also demanded a complete account of the problem. Lord Oakeshott called for the bank to be broken up. Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, called for a full investigation by the Financial Services Authority and told the Treasury Select Committee that he had been in very close contact with senior RBS staff over the weekend.{{cite news
Ireland
The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, criticised Ulster Bank for the situation which affected 30,000 social welfare recipients.{{cite news
The Irish Payment Services Organisation advised customers to keep records of how they were affected and to contact the Financial Services Ombudsman if they were not satisfied. There was press criticism of Ulster Bank's perceived downplaying of the issue in the early stages.{{cite news
The Consumers' Association of Ireland said it had received thousands of complaints from Ulster Bank customers. The Oireachtas Committee on Finance called on representatives of the Central Bank of Ireland to appear before it on 4 July and management of Ulster Bank to do the same on 5 July.
RBS statements
On the first Monday after the start of the problems, RBS said that their computers were operating normally, but that Stephen Hester had sent a senior colleague to Dublin to deal with the situation in Ulster Bank. On the same day, some customers still could not see up-to-date account details.
On 27 June RBS announced that it had cancelled its corporate hospitality at Wimbledon as it would be inappropriate under the circumstances.{{cite news
References
References
- (20 November 2014). "FCA fines RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank Ltd £42 million for IT failures".
- [https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jun/22/natwest-problems-stop-non-customers-home?newsfeed=true NatWest problems stop non-customers moving into new home] The Guardian – Lisa Bachelor, 22 June 2012
- (2012-06-26). "BBC News - RBS computer problems kept man in prison". BBC.
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about 2012 RBS Group computer system problems — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report