Lloyds Banking Group has disclosed that an additional 80,000 customers may have been affected by a major technology glitch last month, raising the total number of potentially impacted individuals to more than 500,000. The incident, which occurred on 12 March, allowed some customers to view other users' transactions on their accounts.
The banking giant, which also owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland, initially reported that around 450,000 customers were affected. However, in a follow-up letter to the Treasury Committee, Lloyds confirmed that 80,508 joint account holders may have had their transaction details viewed, even though they did not log into the banking app during the incident.
Jasjyot Singh, CEO of consumer relationships at Lloyds, said: “We also issued an alert on the app home screen to these 80,508 joint account holders, with a small number of exceptions based on particular customer circumstances. In notifying these customers, our focus has been on providing reassurance and support.”
The bank has so far paid out £201,000 to 5,250 people, with an additional £62,000 in goodwill payments to a further 1,625 customers since 24 March. These payments, which average around £38 per customer, are offered on a case-by-case basis under the bank's distress and inconvenience policy. Lloyds stressed that it has not seen an increase in fraud among those impacted and has not identified any customers who suffered financial loss as a result of the glitch.
Lloyds attributed the problem to a “software defect” from an overnight IT update. Finance experts are advising affected customers to contact their bank with evidence to potentially speed up compensation. Those dissatisfied with the offer can escalate their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
