IN AN unprecedented break with tradition Ulster Bank is to open branches across Northern Ireland during the July 12th bank holiday.
On the most important day in the Orange Order’s marching season, 10 of the bank’s branches will open across the North from 10am to 1pm.
The bank said the majority of its systems were now showing customer account balances with yesterday’s date.
A technical failure, which has been condemned as unacceptable by the Central Bank, has left about 600,000 customers without access to funds for almost three weeks.
The bank said at the weekend that this would be the final week of significant delays for customers.
At 1.30pm yesterday, the bank said that in the Republic the majority of its systems were showing account balances for Monday, July 9th. But there were still payments remaining that had yet to be reflected in account balances.
Some transactions may not yet be either debited or credited, and the order of transactions on its Anytime Banking system may not be in the normal date order.
“All affected accounts will continue to be updated as we work through this backlog of payments,” the bank said via its website.
Debit cards will work, depending on the balance on the customer’s account. However, balance and transaction lists may not reflect point-of-sale transactions.
Ulster Bank said credit cards were “fully functional” and it would waive the cash advance fee and interest for Ulster Bank credit card holders who use their card to access cash during the bank’s technical problems.
The bank said duplicate postings experienced by some customers had been reversed, and all entries would include a narrative referencing the reversal to the original transaction.
The ATM network was “fully available” but may not show correct balances.
Extended branch opening hours will continue in 51 branches from 9.30am to 7pm today. A further update will be issued today on opening hours until Sunday.
The bank said an online webchat service was available to assist customers, and it had a Twitter account, @ulsterbank_help.
More than double the normal number of staff is available in call centres, and some 2,000 calls were handled on Sunday.
The telephone helpdesk in the Republic is open from 8am to 10pm on 1800-205100. Those calling from abroad should ring 00-353-91562910.