TSB IT migration “complete failure”, say MPs

As customers continue to lodge complaints about issues accessing their accounts almost two weeks after the initial planned service downtime over the weekend of April 21, the bank’s leadership including chief executive Paul Pester claimed the bank’s system is now “running relatively smoothly”.

He added login success rates on the TSB’s app and website were now around 95 percent, a typical level for most banks. However, a parliamentary researcher present at the hearing tried and failed to access their TSB account, while chairwoman Nicky Morgan received tweets during the hearing to the same effect.

Pester told the committee: “The data shows the percent of people logging on successfully is 95 percent - this rate is often the case for any bank. There could be a number of reasons why the five percent could have problems logging on.”

The problems have left customers unable to access their accounts or make payments, while others were shown incorrect information, and in some cases the details of other people’s accounts.

The issues stem from when TSB split from Lloyds Banking Group. It continued to rent a banking platform from Lloyds while it constructed its own, Proteo4UK.

MPs heard the migration was the “number one corporate risk” for the bank, with Pester adding it had received 40,000 complaints after millions of customer accounts worth a total of £31bn were moved to the new computer system.

"If there is one decision in my life that I could change it was the decision to go ahead with the migration,” he said. “Clearly that was a terrible decision for our bank, for our customers and for me personally.”

He added customers “won’t be left out of pocket” and that he would not be taking his £2m “integration” bonus.

"The buck stops with me,” he said. “Of course I take absolute responsibility for what has happened to TSB customers."

Yet despite Pester’s apologies, Morgan was unmoved.

She said: “What we are hearing is the most staggering example of a chief executive who seems unwilling to realise the scale of the problems that are being faced."

Alongside MPs’ questions, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spokesperson told Credit Strategy last week that the regulator was “aware of the problem and liaising with the firm”.

Similarly, the Information Commissioner’s Office said it is “aware of a potential data breach in relation to the TSB and are making enquiries”.

Meanwhile, TSB revealed in its annual report last week that its statutory profits before tax fell 10.6 percent to £162.7m in 2017 from £182m the year before.