Ulster Bank has asked to postpone its appearance before a Northern Ireland Assembly committee to explain a lapse in service earlier this month.

The Northern Irish arm of RBS, along with RBS and NatWest was afflicted by a technical fault that affected an estimated 750,000 customers, who were unable to use their cards or access online services for three hours on 2 December.

The chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee, Daithí McKay of Sinn Féin, said: "We would have preferred the bank to have appeared this week.

"We do not think it is ideal to leave it until the New Year but we look forward to the session when it happens.

"There is a confidence issue as far as the public is concerned and in coming before the committee early it could have addressed that."

Ulster Bank asked for more time to allow RBS to conduct an investigation into what went wrong on the day in question.

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A statement from the bank said: "Ulster Bank has indicated to the finance committee that it would welcome the opportunity to update its members on this issue.

"However, it would be more informative if this was scheduled once all material information is available to allow a meaningful discussion.

"We have therefore requested that our next appearance is postponed until this is available."

 

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