TSB was able to put a price on last year’s botched IT migration, reporting pre-tax losses of 105.4 million for 2018.

The bank recognised post-migration costs - including customer compensation, additional resources, fraud and foregone income - of £330 million, although this was partially offset by the provisional recovery of £153 million from IT provider Sabis.

Around 80,000 customers switched their bank account away from TSB in 2018, with volumes peaking in the second quarter – compared to around 50,000 customers switching away in 2017.

The latest Current Account Switch Service figures showed the bank had 18,022 current account losses for the three months from July to September, compared to 1,880 additions.

Last April, almost two million TSB customers were locked out of their online banking as a result of errors during the migration to a new platform run by Spanish owners Banco Sabadell. Chief executive Paul Pester resigned in September after consumers continued to complain of fresh outages.

TSB stated that it has now resolved around 90 per cent, or 181,000, of the 204,000 customer complaints received since then. The bank estimated that approximately a quarter of these would have been received in the usual course of business.

The bill for customer compensation reached £125 million, while the bank suffered £49.1 million in fraud. It also had to invest £122 million to hire new staff to handle the huge volume of complaints, as well as £33.5 million in foregone fees, as it waived charges in a bid to retain customers.

TSB chairman Richard Meddings admitted that last year was TSB’s most challenging to date.

“But we enter 2019 with renewed ambition to re-emerge as the leading challenger bank in the UK - firmly on the side of the customer,” he stated, noting the arrival of new chief executive Debbie Crosbie later this year.

“Whilst the migration caused considerable difficulties, we’re now a stronger bank, operating on a more coherent and modern platform, and able to service more customers than ever before.”

Meddings also noted that the bank is preparing to make a multi-million pound move into the business banking market. TSB was named in December as part of the RBS Remedies Package’s Incentivised Switching Scheme, designed to boost competition in the small and medium-sized (SME) business banking market.

Simon Ratcliffe, principal consultant at hybrid IT services provider Ensono, commented that if banks fail to upgrade their systems with due diligence and proper management, they can easily find themselves suffering significant financial losses like this.

"In TSB’s situation, this loss was inevitable considering the extent of customer compensation and the large number of customers who have subsequently switched their bank.

“If legacy infrastructure is not maintained and modernised, then other banks will face a similar situation," he continued, adding: "As those with relevant knowledge retire, and legacy skills decline, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain these systems without outsourcing."

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