Top German Bank, Deutsche, was left with egg on its face this week when a computer foul-up saw the accounts of thousands of customers slip into the red for a time. A programming error linked to the introduction of the euro meant billions of marks were debited from accounts, a spokeswoman for the bank's direct banking unit said.

With typical German efficiency, order had been restored within 36 hours. More interestingly, the bank said both the original error and the correction would appear on customers' account statements even though many of those affected would never have noticed the hitch.

As the bank put it, customers had a right to know what had been done to their accounts. Now therein lies a lesson for certain Irish banks.