UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee has written to the chief executives of nine banks and building societies to request information on the scale and impact of IT failures affecting their businesses over the past two years, following a recent outage at Barclays that left some customers unable to access certain services for up to three days from 31 January. MPs are asking for the number of incidents and the duration (in hours) of IT failures that prevented customers from using services, as well as the number of customers affected, compensation paid, and the reason for each outage. The letter to Barclays also seeks additional detail on the 31 January incident, including how customer service teams handled distressed consumers and what action the board took to rectify the issue; the Committee noted the Bank of England’s view that outages at a systemically important firm or multiple firms simultaneously could pose a financial stability risk. Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group and Santander have been asked to respond by Wednesday 26 February.
UK Parliament 2025-02-10
UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee writes to nine bank and building society CEOs seeking data on IT failures
The UK Parliament's Treasury Committee has requested information from nine banks and building societies, including Barclays, on IT failures over the past two years, following a recent outage at Barclays. The inquiry seeks details on the number and duration of incidents, affected customers, compensation, and reasons for outages. The Committee highlighted the Bank of England's concern that such outages could pose a financial stability risk.