HSBC Glitch Leaves Thousands Facing Bank Holiday Without Pay

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HSBC says it had processed "99%" of payments affected by an IT glitch, with the remainder due to be completed overnight...yet many are still waiting

HSBC

Thousands of people did not receive their wages on Friday because of an IT glitch at HSBC bank .

Around 275,000 individual payments failed to go through on Friday leaving potentially hundreds of thousands of people without their pay on just before the bank holiday weekend.

Those whose payments were missed were told that they would receive their money later Friday evening or overnight.

Last night the bank said the majority of payments had been made, yet angry customers took to social media to complain money has still not arrived.

The bank’s official Twitter accounts is now telling customers that all outstanding payments should be made today.

The Mail Online reports:

Britain’s biggest bank, which has 16million UK customers, revealed yesterday an IT glitch meant they failed to transfer hundreds of millions of pounds on pay day.

Victims complained about being unable to pay their mortgages or not having any money at all after discovering the issue this morning.

The fault meant that salaries were not transferred from HSBC business accounts to the accounts of employees, including those who bank elsewhere.

In posts made on Twitter, HSBC stated: ‘We are currently processing payments that were not credited to customers’ accounts. The majority of payments will be completed today with the remainder to be completed overnight.

‘We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.’

Last night the bank said the majority of payments had been made.

They said on Twitter: ‘Over 99% of payments that were delayed today have now been processed, with the remaining to be credited overnight.

‘HSBC apologises again for the inconvenience caused’

This morning responding to customer complaints HSBC UK wrote: ‘We expect any remaining payments to be made today. I’m so sorry for the delay.’

The Bacs system transfers £50billion across Britain every day but the problem appears to be confined to HSBC.

A source said that the fault was at HSBC’s end and involved an incorrect piece of IT code and added they were not hacked.

The system failure means businesses who bank with HSBC were unable to pay staff, pay bills or other transfers via the Bacs system – the main way all banks transfer cash to other accounts.

In April Royal Bank of Scotland’s systems failed and it later emerged 600,000 customers were hit and last year it was fined a record £56million after they locked millions out of their accounts.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer group Which?, said: ‘Banks have suffered a series of unacceptable failures with their IT systems in recent years and this latest one at HSBC will do little to reassure consumers that banks are making improvements.

‘It’s essential regulators continue to take tough action to ensure banks properly maintain the payments system we all rely on, and we expect HSBC to fully compensate anyone affected.’

HSBC could incur huge costs from the error, both in compensation from customers and victims as well as a fine from Britain’s banking regulator the Financial Conduct Authority.

An HSBC spokesman said yesterday: ‘There has been a fault in the information used to process some payments from HSBC business customers.

‘Approximately 275,000 payments have been affected, including payments to customers of other banks.

‘HSBC apologises for the inconvenience this has caused. We are taking immediate steps to ensure the payments reach beneficiaries as quickly as possible.

 

 

 

 

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