Ulster Bank, the Irish arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has been fined €3.5m ($4.4m) by Ireland’s Central Bank for a 2012 IT failure that disabled customers’ accessibility to basic banking services for about a month.

The fine is the highest ever imposed by the Ireland’s Central Bank.

The IT glitch, which occurred between June and July 2012 after a software upgrade went wrong, resulted in problems regarding customers’ ATM withdrawals, card purchases and processing of payments including salaries.

Following this IT failure, Ulster Bank had to pay €59m as compensation to affected customers.

The Central Bank said that Ulster lacked robust governance arrangements for IT systems, which not only resulted in customer inconvenience after the IT failure, but also reduced confidence in the wider retail banking sector owing to the knock-on impact it had on other banks’ payments.

Ulster bank has said that it has taken various measures to tackle the issues, which includes investment in its IT systems.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

The lender added that it had worked to enhance its IT outsourcing arrangement with RBS, and launched a dedicated system which will prevent problem in one part of RBS to automatically affect another.