05 July 2012

Ulster Bank To Be Normal By July 16, Assembly Told

Ulster Bank accounts are expected to be back to normal by July 16, executives from the bank have told the Northern Ireland Assembly.

They briefed MLAs on the crisis at a meeting of the Enterprise Committee in Stormont.

Jim Brown, CEO of Ulster Bank Group, said the Twelfth holiday week would be the final week customers would experience delays in getting at their money.

Thousands of customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic have been left out of pocket after a computer glitch stopped payments going in or out of accounts and, after the problem was fixed, technical staff had to go through the transactions manually.

Mr Brown admitted the situation was "unacceptable" and offered an "unreserved apology for the disruption this issue has caused".

He said: "Our customers would expect more from us."

Accounts across the RBS Group were affected, as RBS owns Ulster Bank as well as NatWest.

Mr Brown pledged that customers would not lose money and said this extended to customers of other banks who had missed out on payments as a result of the crisis.

He said a policy on compensation was expected "over the next few days".

Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay said the bank should have set more time aside to spend at Stormont.

He told the Ulster Bank executives: "It's a great shame that you cannot stay with representatives of the public here for more than an hour."

Ulster Bank is considering open on the July 12 holiday.

Branches have extended opening hours since the glitch became apparent on June 20, allowing customers to pick money up from their accounts in person.

(NE)