ALMOST FOUR WEEKS since a catastrophic “technical glitch” disrupted its services, Ulster Bank has today said that all of its systems are now running as normal.
However, the bank revealed this afternoon that because of the scale of the incident, the clean up will continue for weeks with a small percentage of outstanding transactions yet to be processed. These will be completed over the “next couple of days”, according to the group.
Ulster Bank added, “There is no doubt that there will be reconciliations to some customer accounts that also need to take place over the coming days and weeks.”
Chief executive Jim Brown sent the following to all customers today:
I’m pleased to inform you that the recent technical difficulties at Ulster Bank have been resolved. For the vast majority of our customers, our services have returned to normal. However, given the scale of this incident, the clean up continues and a small percentage of outstanding transactions are being processed over the next couple of days. There will be further reconciliations to some customer accounts as a result and I’d like to thank you for you for your continued patience.Of course, I realise you have questions that need to be answered and I want to make sure those answers are delivered promptly and to your complete satisfaction.
Will I be out of pocket?
Absolutely not. Ulster Bank has made a firm commitment that no customer will be out of pocket as a result of this issue. If you have incurred any fees or charges as a result of these technical difficulties, we will provide a full refund. If you are an Ulster Bank customer, you don’t need to do anything as these refunds will be provided automatically. For customers of other banks, we are working closely with your bank to ensure that the same principles apply.
Customers’ out-of-pocket expenses will be refunded, details of how you can claim will be made available shortly.
Will I receive any additional compensation for the disruption?
Given the level of disruption, the recognition of the inconvenience caused to you, our customers, is now of vital importance. To this end, we’ve developed a range of measures that we are discussing with Regulatory bodies, full details of which will be issued shortly.
What about my credit rating. Will that be affected?
Ulster Bank is working closely with all the main credit rating agencies to ensure that none of our customers’ credit ratings will be adversely affected as a result of this incident.
So what went wrong?
The technical issue that caused this unprecedented and unacceptable failure in our IT systems affected the entire RBS Group. The problem was caused when maintenance on IT systems in Edinburgh disrupted the regular processing of overnight transactions. It took time to resolve this problem which, in turn, created a significant backlog so many customers’ account balances were incorrect. The important thing is that this issue has been corrected, although further reconciliation to some customer accounts may need to be carried out over the coming weeks.
What are you doing to make sure it won’t happen again?
RBS and Ulster Bank will carry out a full and detailed investigation into the causes of the problem, overseen by independent experts. We will publish relevant findings from this investigation when they become available.
Once again, I would like to apologise personally to you for this significant disruption in our service.
Thank you.
Jim Brown, Chief Executive, Ulster Bank.
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