ULSTER BANK’S PARENT group the Royal Bank of Scotland plc has issued a more detailed update on the technical failure which has led to delays in customer payments over the past fortnight.
The unresolved crisis will continue to affect clients for at least another week, according to management.
In this morning’s statement, RBS said customers will continue to experience significant delays this week and next (starting 9 July) but “gradual” and “noticeable” improvements are expected over that period.
They added: “It is our expectation that by the week of the 16 July, the vast majority of customers will return to a normal service, barring any residual reconciliation required.”
Daily updates will be issued to customers over the next two weeks.
The bank also noted that “it is not, and has never been, the case that all Ulster Bank services are unavailable”. “A number of core banking systems have continued to operate as normal throughout the incident.”
Chief executive Jim Brown acknowledged that customers are frustrated, adding that they “are right to be”.
“Our efforts to fix this are paying off and over the last few days we have been able to gain a much clearer picture about when we expect all systems to be largely back to normal,” he said.
We apologise again to our customers and all those people who have been affected by this problem. We appreciate the patience that has been displayed and we will keep everyone informed as we make progress.
Brown also thanked a number of other banks who have provided assistance to the group as it tries to process “vital payments”.
The catastrophic software glitch began on 19 June and RBS has said that significant resources have now been shifted from within the group to Ulster Bank.
In recent days speed in bringing accounts up to date has increased significantly. For example, over last weekend we cleared another 2 days of backlog and this week we have cleared payments which will allow customers to see a material improvement in the information they have. This compares to several days to clear a single days’ transactions at the start of the incident.
Meanwhile, Central Bank officials will face questioning about the ongoing Ulster Bank debacle when they appear before an Oireachtas committee today.
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