Customers at major UK banks and building societies have suffered the equivalent of more than a month of IT failures in the past two years, according to a Treasury committee investigation. The probe found that nine top financial institutions accumulated at least 803 hours of unplanned tech outages between January 2023 and February 2025, caused by 158 separate incidents affecting millions of customers.
The data excludes last week's major outage, which hit TSB, Nationwide, First Direct, and Lloyds Banking Group brands, including Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland. Customers faced difficulties logging into online accounts and experienced payment delays.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Treasury select committee, said losing access to banking services on payday can be 'a terrifying experience' for those living paycheck to paycheck. She noted that even quick fixes can cause 'real panic', emphasising the need for banks to react swiftly and keep customers informed.
Barclays reported the most incidents, 33, totalling 93 hours of disruption, and paid up to £4.99 million in compensation. However, this excludes a separate outage in late January to early February 2025, where 56% of online payments failed due to 'severe degradation' of its mainframe. Barclays expects to pay between £5 million and £7.5 million in compensation for that incident.
NatWest recorded the most downtime, 194 hours from just 13 incidents, paying out £348,000. HSBC paid £232,697 after 32 incidents caused 176 hours of disruption. The committee's findings highlight persistent technical glitches even among the most successful banks, underscoring the importance of robust systems and customer communication.
