The ex-chief information officer (CIO) of TSB has been hit with a £81,620 fine over the bank's botched 2018 IT migration programme.

While TSB successfully moved its IT systems and data onto a new IT platform, it experienced immediate technical failures which led to “significant disruption” to its banking services, including branch, telephone, online, and mobile banking.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which issued the fine, said that all of TSB’s branches and a significant proportion of its 5.2 million customers at the time were impacted by the disruption.

Some customers continued to be affected by ongoing issues, with it taking around eight months for TSB to return to business-as-usual.

The move comes after the regulator gave TSB a penalty worth more than £48 million in December 2022 for operational resilience failings related to the 2018 migration.

The PRA said that former CIO Carlos Abarca failed to make sure that TSB had obtained assurance from its key third party provider that it was prepared for the IT migration.

“Senior managers have an essential role to play in ensuring that firms manage and supervise outsourcing effectively,” said Sam Woods, deputy governor for prudential regulation and chief executive of the PRA. “In this case, the PRA has fined Mr Abarca because his management of a key outsourcing relationship fell below the standard we expect.’

TSB has paid out £32.7 million in redress to customers who suffered detriment following the IT failure.

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