TSB, HSBC and Barclays have all reported problems with their apps or websites on Friday, locking customers out of their accounts on what was payday for millions.
They were the latest in a string of technical failures that have beset Britain’s online banking services and came days after Nicky Morgan, the Tory MP who chairs the Treasury select committee, wrote to banks to demand answers and, possibly, compensation after previous IT disruptions.
As with many of the other technical glitches that have caused disruption for customers, including an IT meltdown at Visa in June, the latest problems occurred on a Friday.
TSB’s problems started at about 8am, with some customers using its mobile app or website unable to access their accounts.
One company tweeted TSB:
trying to pay people's salaries ... please get back to me to confirm how to arrange salary payments today. sorry TSB but this is the final straw...off to Barclays...oh, except their site says it's not secure. Hmm.
— Bright Analytics (@brightanalytics) September 28, 2018
Another customer tweeted: “So @TSB care to tell me how I’m supposed to get my son to his appointment today when I can’t access me own money?”
TSB said it was “working hard to fix these issues” and added that customers were still able to use their cards as normal. At about 3pm it said: “We’re sorry for any issues our customers experienced this morning on our mobile app and internet banking. These services are now recovering back to normal levels so please retry if you have experienced issues.”
Some HSBC customers were unable to log on to their bank’s mobile banking app. The problem was identified at 7.40am and the bank said normal service was restored later in the morning.
It added: “We will be conducting an investigation into the cause of this issue and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Some Barclays customers used social media to report difficulties accessing their accounts on Friday morning.
Just before noon the bank tweeted: “We did have a few problems but we’re back up and running now.” It said the issues lasted for about 30 minutes – but then its app apparently had another glitch.
Shortly after 1pm, Barclays said on its website: “We’re sorry if you’re having trouble logging in to our mobile banking app – we’re working to fix this.”
A short while later the bank said everything was working normally.
