NatWest apologises as banking app goes offline

NatWest has apologised after clients had been left unable to make use of its cellular banking app within the UK, stopping some from accessing their financial institution accounts.

Greater than 3,000 individuals have reported issues on outage-checking web site Downdetector for the reason that points first emerged at 0910 GMT.

The agency mentioned on its service standing web site that its on-line banking service was nonetheless working usually – although this has been disputed by some clients. Card funds are unaffected.

“We are aware that customers are experiencing difficulties accessing the NatWest mobile banking app this morning,” a NatWest spokesperson instructed the BBC.

“We’re really sorry about this and working to fix it as quickly as possible.”

Clients have taken to social media to complain in regards to the affect the IT failure is having on them.

One individual mentioned they needed to “put back my shopping because of it”, whereas one other mentioned they had been “waiting to go shopping” however could not switch cash to take action.

NatWest has suggested clients on social media that it has “no timeframe” for a repair, however mentioned its crew is “working hard” to resolve it.

Clients are being suggested to entry their accounts in different methods if they will – resembling by means of on-line banking.

Nonetheless, have some individuals have reported issues with NatWest’s on-line service too, with one sharing an error message which they mentioned was displayed once they tried to make a cost.

Others have expressed frustration with the financial institution’s response, with one saying it “disgraceful” there was no timeframe, whereas one other referred to as it “very poor service”.

“What I don’t get is the bank closes loads of branches ‘to save money’ and forcing people to rely on the app and online banking… but clearly hasn’t invested in a system that works properly,” one offended buyer mentioned.

That is the newest in an extended line of banking outages.

In Might, numerous main banks disclosed that 1.2m individuals had been affected by them within the UK in 2024.

Based on a report in March, 9 main banks and constructing societies have had round 803 hours – the equal of 33 days – of tech outages since 2023.

Inconvenient for patrons, outages come at a price to the banks, too.

The Commons Treasury Committee discovered Barclays might face compensation funds of £12.5m over outages since 2023.

Over the identical interval, Natwest has paid £348,000, HSBC has paid £232,697, and Lloyds has paid £160,000.

Different banks have paid smaller sums.