Sunday, June 24, 2012

NatWest customers still facing problems as website struggles - @SkyNews

NatWest

Millions of Natwest customers have been affected by the problems

4:39am UK, Sunday June 24, 2012

Stephen Hester, chief executive of NatWest owner RBS, has issued a public apology for the technical hitch and admitted the bank had let down its customers.

Branches were due to open their doors between 9am and noon, amid continued anger following days of disruption.

RBS boss Stephen Hester

RBS boss Stephen Hester issued an apology to customers

The chaos, caused by a problem with computer software, left many of its clients unable to pay bills or access their money.

Mr Hester strived to reassure customers following fears thousands of people could be hit with penalty charges if their regular payments - including mortgages - were affected.

"I am very sorry for the difficulties people are experiencing," he said.

"Our customers rely on us day in and day out to get things right, and on this occasion we have let them down. This should not have happened.

"Right now my top priority, and the priority of the entire RBS Group, is to fix these problems and put things right for our customers.

"This is taking time, but I want to reassure people that we are working around the clock to resolve these problems as quickly as we are able."

NatWest has more than 7.5 million personal banking customers but it is unclear how many have been affected.

The issues extend to users of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Ulster Bank, which like NatWest are part of RBS Group.

Ulster Bank said about 100,000 of its customers experienced difficulties. While the original technical glitch has been fixed, staff are now working through the build-up of transactions which have not been processed.