IN A statement released yesterday afternoon, Ulster Bank said this coming week would be the final week of any significant delays for customers.
Staff were in offices over the weekend working through a backlog of lodgments to customer accounts caused by the failure of its processing systems at an IT centre in Edinburgh nearly three weeks ago.
The bank said there would be “gradual, but significant and noticeable improvements”, and reiterated its assessment that by next week “the vast majority of customers will return to a normal service”.
However, the statement also warned that there would be some “final reconciliations required to customers’ accounts”.
The speed and accuracy of the clearing process was said to be proceeding positively, and most account balances are up to date until at least July 4th.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank’s director of consumer protection, Bernard Sheridan, warned that similar problems could occur at other financial institutions.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, he said he was unable to assure consumers that the issues that left over half a million Ulster Bank customers without access to funds for over two weeks could not happen elsewhere.
Mr Sheridan said the Central Bank had asked all Irish banks to review their payment and technology systems, but added that the regulator “can’t give an assurance that it’s never going to happen again”.
He said the Central Bank had “gone back to all the other banks to highlight this issue to them to make sure they’re reviewing in the light of what has happened”.
He would be insisting that Ulster Bank compensated its customers and customers of other institutions affected by the crisis for costs and charges incurred from the collapse of its systems.
