Millions of pounds will be paid out to Brits in compensation as a result of IT outages affecting banks that operate in the United Kingdom.
A staggering £13.3 million has been earmarked by companies to deal with the consequences of banking problems, such as systems going down and leading to missed payments for customers. And of that huge sum of money, one bank has accounted for a whopping £12,500,000 of it. Big numbers. In total, nine banks and building societies that have UK operations were shown to have had a combined 803 hours in the last two years where their services were not working. That's roughly 33 days, or slightly more than one month of the 24 in the time period.
And now, Parliament's Treasury Committee, which is investigating the impact of these outages on customers, has put together a data haul showing how customers of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, NatWest, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank have been impacted in the country.
Ironically, it doesn't include two of the latest outages that have happened since the turn of the new year, with Barclays down in January and Lloyds in early March.
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What have politicians found?
Chair of the Treasury Committee, Dame Meg Hillier, described losing banking access as a 'terrifying experience' for 'families and individuals living pay cheque to pay cheque'.
"The fact there has been enough outages to fill a whole month within the last two years shows customers' frustrations are completely valid," she said.
The hope now is that by publicising this data, banks and their regulator will look more at addressing the issue to limit future outages impacting customers.
A Treasury spokesperson told the BBC that the department is "working with the financial authorities to regulate third party suppliers, as well as considering whether the banks are doing all they can to provide the level of service customers expect".
Which banks are impacted and how much compensation could be owed?
Barclays is the big payer. In total, it told the committee it will pay between £5 million and £7.5 million in compensation to customers, saying the payments would be for reasons relating to 'inconvenience or distress'.
All in all, this could reach £12.5m when taking in to account information shared to the committee by Barclays.
Other compensation paid out for this period is £348,000 from NatWest; £232,697 from HSBC; and £160,000 from Lloyds.
More payments include £77,452 from Nationwide; £17,000 from Santander; and £590 from AIB.
How can I claim compensation?
Banks aren't legally forced to pay compensation for outages but if you can prove you suffered financially as a result, reimbursement might also be on the cards.
So if a bill didn't send, and you're charged a late fee, that could potentially be claimed back.
Likewise, if your credit rating is impacted by a late payment make sure to gather evidence of the outage for your credit file.
Anyone impacted by an IT issue should put in a formal complaint explaining the situation, with evidence alongside this. If you don't like the outcome the bank gives you, you can always take the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service to review the case and give a final outcome including potential compensation payments.
Topics: Business, Cost of Living, Money, Technology, UK News
Tom Earnshaw