NatWest: No end in sight for IT glitch fallout

An unknown number of NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank customers are continuing to experience problems with payments into and out of their accounts, with no timeline for when systems will be completely back to normal, RBS has warned.

Significant problems facing Ulster Bank customers are likely to continue for at least a week, and a minority of NatWest and RBS customers still have unprocessed transactions, RBS said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Progress towards a completely normal service is likely to be affected by the significant stress on the system over recent days," RBS said.

RBS is still mopping up after last week's IT debacle. The majority of NatWest and RBS customers' account balances have now registered as normal, but some people are still experiencing problems, said RBS.

The problems began during the updating process for CA-7, which controls batch-processing on RBS systems, the Guardian reported on Monday. The engineer updating the CA-7 system may have deleted or corrupted batch-processing files, the Guardian said. RBS has not yet confirmed exactly what happened, and is conducting an investigation.

The bank and its suppliers may face serious repercussions from the IT failure. CA Technologies, which supplies CA-7, may be sued by RBS if the glitch is attributable to CA, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. RBS could come under regulatory pressure from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which is probing the incident. Bank of England head Mervyn King told the Treasury Committee on Tuesday that the FSA investigation will be very detailed, and should establish why it took so long for the banking group to recover. In addition, RBS is liable for compensation claims for costs incurred by customers.