MPs launch inquiry into banking IT failures

The Treasury Select Committee is to launch an inquiry into IT failures in the financial services sector after a series of meltdowns at High Street banks left millions of customers facing disruption to their online banking services.

MPs on the influential parliamentary committee said they will examine the operational resilience of IT systems at banks and financial institutions, and their ability to get services back up and running if a failure occurs.

The inquiry, which will appoint a specialist advisor, comes after a customers at Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland were unable to access their accounts, along with repeated outages at digital bank TSB following a botched IT migration in April.

The probe will test banks’ ability to prevent disruption, rectify system failures and provide adequate compensation for customers, as well as find out whether regulators have the relevant skills to hold financial services providers to account.

The committee is requesting evidence from financial services institutions to build up a picture of the sector’s ability to ensure technology and digital banking services are providing customers with an acceptable level of service, many of whom have suffered from the closure of local branches.

The chairwoman of the committee, Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, said the number of IT failures at banks and other financial institutions in recent years - including Equifax, TSB, Visa, Barclays, Cashplus and RBS - had been “astonishing”, with millions of customers affected.

“Measly apologies and hollow words from financial services institutions will not suffice when consumers aren’t able to access their own money and face delays in paying bills,” she stated. “As bank branches close and customers are ushered towards online services, the availability of those services is vital.

“The committee has launched this inquiry to consider the causes and consequences of these failures, and will examine what industry and regulators are doing to promote operational resilience.”

    Share Story:

Recent Stories


Data trust in the AI era: Building customer confidence through responsible banking
In the second episode of FStech’s three-part video podcast series sponsored by HCLTech, Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President & Head of Financial Services for Europe & UKI at HCLTech examines the critical relationship between data trust, transparency, and responsible AI implementation in financial services.

Banking's GenAI evolution: Beyond the hype, building the future
In the first episode of a three-part video podcast series sponsored by HCLTech, Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President & Head of Financial Services for Europe & UKI at HCLTech explores how financial institutions can navigate the transformative potential of Generative AI while building lasting foundations for innovation.

Beyond compliance: Transforming document management into a strategic advantage for financial institutions
In this exclusive fireside chat, John Rockliffe, Pre-Sales Manager at d.velop, discusses the findings of Adapting to a Digital-Native World: Financial Services Document Management Beyond 2025 and explores how FSIs can turn document workflows into a competitive advantage.

Sanctions evasion in an era of conflict: Optimising KYC and monitoring to tackle crime
The ongoing war in Ukraine and resulting sanctions on Russia, and the continuing geopolitical tensions have resulted in an unprecedented increase in parties added to sanctions lists.