An IT glitch across Lloyds Banking Group left hundreds of thousands of customers unable to use debit cards and cashpoints over the weekend.
The problem has now been fixed, after two out of seven IT servers went down, meaning a quarter of TSB card transactions were affected.
Customers of TSB, Lloyds, Halifax had their cards declined in shops while half of its cash machines declined to dispense money between 3pm and 6pm on Sunday.
On 27th January, Lloyds Banking group released a statement, stating "Although the majority of transactions were unaffected, we are very sorry for the inconvenience that this will have caused.
"At the same time, some customers encountered problems at approximately half of our 7,000 ATMs. This was resolved by 7.30pm, and all of our ATMs are now working."
Online and telephone banking were unaffected by the problem.
Anthony Duffy, director of retail banking, Fujitsu UK & Ireland commented: "Technology underpins the nation’s payments infrastructure and is crucial to a bank’s ability to run its business. It enables the handling and processing of huge volumes of payments every day. Consequently, it is vital that banks have the systems and processes in place are robust, reliable and enjoy public confidence.
"Although rare in the UK, issues such as the one which occurred over the weekend – although quickly resolved – can damage both reputation and businesses. Recent research from Fujitsu’s suggested that 26% of consumers would seriously consider changing their bank if an IT failure rendered online banking or ATMs unusable, giving a clear indication of the importance they place on payment system reliability."
Picture courtesy of EPA
