Since April 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has required banks to report any major operational or security incident that prevents customers from using payment services. As a result, there were reported 302 incidents that prevented customers from making payments in the last nine months of 2018 according to the consumer group, which took part to a comprehensive analysis carried out since banks started disclosing serious IT glitches.
For instance, in November 2018, HSBC systems went down on the same day that the Treasury select committee launched a formal inquiry into banking IT failures. Barclays had the most IT failures over the nine months, at 41. Lloyds had 37, Bank of Scotland/Halifax had 31 and Natwest had 26, Which? Said for The Guardian.
TSB, where the botched introduction of a new IT system in 2018 caused 1.9 million people to lose access to online banking services, reported 16 incidents. Nationwide reported five.
Still, UK Finance, which represents the banks, said its members worked around the clock to minimise disruption when things went wrong.
Which? is calling for the government to appoint a regulator with sole responsibility for the cash infrastructure, to ensure consumers and businesses can continue to access cash for as long as is necessary.
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