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File photo of customers queuing for an Ulster Bank ATM. Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland
Ulster Bank

Ulster Bank says 'normal service resumed' for most customers

Banking group Royal Bank of Scotland said the cost of cleaning up the Ulster Bank technical ‘glitch’ – including redress to customers – would cost stg£28m (€35.5m).

ULSTER BANK HAS said that there are outstanding issues with only a “minimal” number of customers’ accounts following the summer’s massive systems failure.

TheJournal.ie was told by a spokesperson that “any outstanding reconciliation to customer accounts are minimal”. Ulster Bank says that “normal service has now been restored for the majority of our customers”.

When asked when all issues would be totally resolved for customers, Ulster Bank could not put a definite timeframe on it but pointed TheJournal.ie to a previous statement which they say still applies. That statement said:

Given the scale of the incident, the clean up continues and a small percentage of outstanding transactions are being processed over the next couple of days. There is no doubt that there will be reconciliations to some customer accounts that also need to take place over the coming days and weeks. However, for the majority of customers it is now business as usual.

An interim report from RBS yesterday said that the overall “systems failure” in parent company RBS which saw Ulster Bank customers left without access to their accounts for weeks was a “significant blot” on the company’s reputation. It said that stg£125m had been set aside to deal with all costs associated with that failure. Some stg£28m (€35.5m) of that will be directed towards the “clean-up” of the Ulster Bank issues.

In its report, RBS admitted that while its customers in the Royal Bank of Scotland had their issues dealt with in a speedy manner, Ulster Bank customers “experienced extended problems with their accounts”.

Some Ulster Bank customers left comments on yesterday’s report, indicating that they are among those still suffering the impact of the “systems failure”. One commenter, “fotocrat”, wrote:

My account is actually overdrawn due to Inaccuracies and inadvertent withdrawal of money. There was so much confusion. Now am owing the bank. Won’t get my account up to date with a positive balance until I hear from the ombudsman’s office or the bank.
Already sent in my complaint form to both, Ulster Bank and the Financial Ombudsman. I am seeking redress and hopefully I’ll be sorted soon.

Another, “reds”, wrote:

Me too, my wages have been changed to a different account but direct debits are still coming out of my old one, so a negative balance with me owing them money now. Very stressful not knowing where you stand.

Read: RBS sets aside stg£28m (€35.5m) to deal with Ulster Bank tech ‘glitch’>

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