Summary
Around 1.2 million people in the UK faced banking outages on pay day in February, affecting their ability to access accounts. Banks like Lloyds, TSB, Nationwide, and HSBC have responded by paying compensation and planning measures to avoid future issues.
Key Facts
- About 1.2 million UK banking customers experienced disruptions on February 28, a common payday.
- The disruptions were detailed in letters to the chair of the Commons Treasury Committee.
- HSBC's customers waited an average of two hours to reach online customer services, against a normal wait time of five minutes.
- Lloyds Banking Group had the most significant impact, with 700,000 customers affected.
- A total of over £114,000 has been paid in compensation, with Nationwide paying the highest amount.
- The banks reported no increase in fraudulent activity during the disruption.
- The UK's major banks have experienced over 33 days of tech outages in the last two years.
- Experts said outdated IT systems are a major cause of these outages, and banks need to invest in IT improvements.
