TSB suffers £105m loss following IT failures

During a planned upgrade to TSB's systems in April, there were widespread reports of internet and mobile banking being down after the scheduled downtime came to an end.

There were additional reports of TSB customers being able to access the accounts of other customers and possibly having the ability to perform actions on these accounts, including transferring money.

The Bank later admitted that 1,300 customers lost money as a result of fraud during the failures.

Costs relating to the IT failures totalled £330.2m over the year, including customer redress of £125.2m, fraud and operational losses of £49.1m, resource and advisory costs of £122.4m and foregone income of £33.5m relating to waived fees and charges.

TSB says it has now resolved around 90% of the 204,000 customer complaints received since migration and said all critical and urgent IT fixes have been applied.

In its full year results, the bank said IT services are "now stable within the range of industry performance, and the majority of products are available across all channels".

In November, Debbie Crosbie was announced as CEO designate and she joins the business in Spring 2019.

Richard Meddings, TSB's executive chairman, said: “Last year was TSB’s most challenging year. But we enter 2019 with renewed ambition to re-emerge as the leading challenger bank in the UK – firmly on the side of the customer. We have a truly customer-focused team, a strong banking system that customers are starting to see the benefits of, and look forward to our new CEO, Debbie Crosbie, joining us later this year.

“In addition to continuing to improve our offer for consumers, we are going to make a significant move into business banking. We have a multi-million-pound investment programme underway to help us grow our business banking offer across every town and city we serve – as the only challenger bank with a nationwide branch network, and we were named in December as part of the Incentivised Switching Scheme.

“Whilst the migration caused considerable difficulties, we’re now a stronger bank, operating on a more coherent and modern platform, and able to service more customers than ever before. Helping local communities and businesses to thrive is just one element in being an essential part of the fabric of communities and their high streets – along with creating jobs, tackling fraud, and helping those in need through our charity partnerships.

“At a time when some banks are quietly retreating from communities, we’re proud to support local customers and businesses through our branches across the country, alongside digital and telephone banking.”