NatWest fixes app outage which left clients fuming

NatWest says it has now mounted a problem which left clients unable to make use of the financial institution’s cell app, leaving some unable to entry their accounts.

Clients reported issues together with being unable to make purchases or pay employees.

NatWest apologised to clients “for any inconvenience brought about”, having beforehand mentioned its web-based on-line banking service was nonetheless working usually – nevertheless some clients disputed this.

“Now we have resolved the problems inflicting this and clients are actually in a position to log in and make funds as regular,” a spokesperson mentioned.

Issues started to be reported on outage-checking website Downdetector at 0910 GMT.

Clients then took to social media to complain in regards to the affect the IT failure was having on them.

One individual mentioned they needed to “put again my buying due to it”, whereas one other mentioned they had been “ready to buy groceries” however could not switch cash to take action.

Clients had been suggested to entry their accounts in different methods if they will – corresponding to by means of on-line banking.

Nevertheless, some individuals reported issues with NatWest’s on-line service too, with one sharing an error message which they mentioned was displayed once they tried to make a cost.

Others have expressed frustration with the financial institution’s response, with one saying it was “disgraceful” there was no timeframe given for resolving the issue, whereas one other known as it “very poor service”.

“What I do not get is the financial institution closes a great deal of branches ‘to save cash’ and forcing individuals to depend on the app and on-line banking… however clearly hasn’t invested in a system that works correctly,” one offended buyer mentioned.

That is the most recent in an extended line of banking outages.

In Could, quite a lot of main banks disclosed that 1.2m individuals had been affected by them within the UK in 2024.

Based on a report in March, 9 main banks and constructing societies have had round 803 hours – the equal of 33 days – of tech outages since 2023.

Inconvenient for patrons, outages come at a price to the banks, too.

The Commons Treasury Committee discovered Barclays might face compensation funds of £12.5m over outages since 2023.

Over the identical interval, Natwest has paid £348,000, HSBC has paid £232,697, and Lloyds has paid £160,000.

Different banks have paid smaller sums.