20/11/2014

RBS Fined Over System Failure

Financial regulators have fined the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) £56m over a 2012 software issue that left millions of customers unable to access their money and wrongly charged as a result.

The bank had begun an upgrade of system software across its business, which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank. However, an issue was discovered during the upgrade which meant it had to be abandoned, and the banks IT systems failed.

A majority of RBS and NatWest customers were unable to access their accounts for around 10 days, however Ulster Bank customers had to wait some 20 days for issues to be resolved.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined RBS £42m, and the Prudential Regulation Authority fined the bank £14m.

RBS was last week fined £217m by the FCA following an investigation into foreign exchange rate rigging.

(MH/JP)

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