The Chair of the Treasury Committee has called for answers over TSB’s “IT meltdown”, which left several thousand customers able to access others online banking accounts.
Weekend upgrades to TSB’s online banking platform left several thousand customers unable to access their own accounts, yet able to view other peoples.
>See also: Online banking and financial services
Last week the bank warned customers that it would be carrying out upgrades to its systems between 16:00 BST on Friday and 18:00 on Sunday.
However, during this time several customers started to report issues with their online accounts. One customer claimed to have been credited with £13,000, which did not belong to him and that he could see someone else’s account details.
>See also: Online banking and financial services
As a result, Nicky Morgan MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, has written to TSB’s Chief Executive Paul Pester demanding answers to why the failure occurred and how the bank intends to compensate customers who suffered a breach of personal data.
>See also: What makes a great digital bank?
Morgan said: “The reports of unauthorised transactions, access to other customers’ accounts, and failures of in-branch services have all the hallmarks of an IT meltdown.
This is yet another addition to the litany of failures of banking IT systems. Potentially millions of customers could be affected by uncertainty and disruption.
It simply isn’t good enough to expose customers to IT failures, including delays in paying bills and an inability to access their own money.”
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She added: “Warm words and platitudes will not suffice. TSB customers deserve to know what has happened, when normal services will resume, and how they can expect to be compensated.
I will be writing to the FCA in due course for their assessment.”
In a statement TSB claimed only a “tiny fraction” of customers saw other customers’ accounts and that the issue was resolved in 20 minutes.
