Ulster Bank pays out £18m over failed IT system

By MICHAEL MCHUGH
Published on 12/10/2012 00:46

Ulster Bank has paid more than £18 million to almost 300,000 Northern Ireland customers hit by IT problems over the summer.

Thousands were unable to withdraw cash or access their accounts for weeks after maintenance on the system caused computer problems on 19 June.

Half those paid received £20 after they had to call into a branch to get cash. The rest had account management fees waived for three months, redressed for lost interest and reimbursed out of pocket expenses, Ulster Bank chief executive Jim Brown said.

“It is true that the incident was a major disaster, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

Bank executives apologised for the length of time the crisis lasted, when other members of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) banking group resolved the same issue within days.

Top executives have offered to forfeit their bonuses, but thousands of customers have left the bank since the crisis.

Mr Brown told a joint meeting of Stormont’s Finance and Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee: “It is also clear we had issues with the contingency plan relating to our systems operating as they should have, because our systems were down and could not process transactions for quite a few days.”

Ulster Bank was quickly able to extend branch opening hours and bring extra staff into its call centre, he said.

Customers received £20 in compensation if they visited the bank between 19 June and 18 July and made a transaction.

The bank also said it will reimburse all “reasonable out-of-pocket expenses” resulting from the major disruption.

It has since been criticised by politicians for initiating only a reimbursement scheme rather than wider compensation.