TSB fined £49m over ‘widespread failings’ which led to IT meltdown

Bank hit with penalty of nearly £49m for failures over IT upgrade

TSB has been fined nearly £49m (PA)

High street lender TSB Bank has been fined £48.7 million by City regulators for a botched IT upgrade in 2018 that left many of its 5.2 million customers unable to access banking services.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) hit the bank with the penalty for “widespread” failures over the organisation and control surrounding the transfer of its IT systems and customer services data on to a new technology platform in April 2018.

The regulators said the issues following the upgrade saw disruption across TSB’s entire branch network, as well as its internet, mobile and telephone banking systems.

This left a “significant proportion” of its 5.2 million customers affected by the initial problems with the IT switchover, while some customers suffered ongoing issues and it took until December 2018 for TSB to return to business as usual, according to the regulators.

Mark Steward, FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “The failings in this case were widespread and serious which had a real impact on the day-to-day lives of a significant proportion of TSB’s customers, including those who were vulnerable.

“The firm failed to plan for the IT migration properly, the governance of the project was insufficiently robust and the firm failed to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems.”