Ulster Bank customers hit by ‘technical issues’

Ulster Bank was forced to apologise tonight after thousands of its customers were once again left without access to funds following a serious system breakdown which also affected its parent bank in the UK.

A bank spokeswoman told The Irish Times that it was working to address “a technical issue” which has left customers unable to use their debit cards, credit cards or access their bank accounts online.

She was, however, unable to say what the nature of the problem was or how many people in the Republic had been impacted.

Customers at the Ulster Bank's parent company Royal Bank of Scotland and its subsidiary NatWest in the UK were also affected.

The Ulster Bank spokeswoman said the company was “aware of the technical issues being experienced by customers and are working to get them fixed urgently. We apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”

In June of 2012, the three banks experienced a massive computer failure at a data processing centre which left around 600,000 people without access to their funds for weeks and Ulster Bank was forced to pay out tens of millions of euro to cover refunds and compensation for affected customers.

Customers took to social media tonight to express concern at the second serious failure at the bank in little over a year.

One woman who spoke to The Irish Times said she first became aware of the problem when she attempted to pay for her shopping at Tesco.

“My card was declined so I went out to an ATM and it wouldn’t work there either. I am furious to be honest. I lodged a cheque in an Ulster Bank branch this afternoon and they had no problem taking my money. Giving it back to me now seems to be an issue.

Joseph Carey from Blanchardstown has been a customer of the bank for the last ten years and he was in a pub having a meal with his wife. He tried to use his Ulster Bank card to pay the bill and was unable to do so. “It upset me rather than putting me out. I also had to arrange to get some stuff for the kids in another place and the card wouldn’t work there either,” he said.

“I rang Ulster Bank and they said they were very sorry and that the card department were looking into it. They didn’t know what it was and I asked them when it would be rectified [but they didn’t know].”