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NatWest banking meltdown: Millions of customers unable to
move money or pay bills as accounts freeze and wage payments fail to arrive


Woman is stranded in Italy after NatWest card failed

1,000 branches to stay open until 7pm to help customers

Bank says no customers would be 'permanently out of pocket' but says nothing on covering penalty charges

Experts warn more problems ahead for all UK banks in rush
to offer new sophisticated payment methods

By ANDREW OXLADE and YASMIN LAGGOUNE and CAMILLA CANOCCHI

Updated: 20:13 GMT, 21 June 2012











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NatWest customers were unable to move money or pay bills from their accounts today as a huge technical failure hit services.


Others reported being unable to withdraw money because wages had failed to arrive in their accounts.


As many as eight million people may have been affected, although some were reporting they
still had access to their money.



Disruption: Natwest customers reported problems with the
bank's online services

Account balances were also not being updated while some small business owners said they had been unable
to pay staff.

The banking group apologised to its customers for the problems
and said it was working hard to fix them.

But a spokesman admitted it was possible that the glitch could also affect customers expecting payments to be made into their accounts tonight.


Asked whether it was possible that more account-holders will encounter problems tomorrow, the spokesman replied:
'Potentially, but hopefully not.'

The bank promised to keep 1,000 branches open until 7pm tonight in all major towns and cities to 'assist
customers'.

One branch in West London had closed its doors with only two members of staff outside telling customers that they would not know until tomorrow when services would be restored.
They also said NatWest customers should only use the bank's
own ATMs to guarantee being able to get money out.


NatWest, which carries the new ad slogan 'Helpful Banking', has not said
whether it will cover penalties imposed on its customers by third parties for
late payments on credit cards and bills.


WAS NATWEST'S NEW MOBILE PAYMENTS GIZMO TO BLAME?

Last Wednesday, NatWest heralded a leap forward for its mobile phone payment technology.



It launched a system - GetCash - that would allow people to take cash from an ATM without using
their cash card, by making a request on their handset.



They are sent a six digit pin number, after making the
request, which can be entered at a cash machine.



The aim, the bank said, was to help people who may have lost or forgotten their card or those
who want to leave their wallet at home.

It was made available to around two and-a-half million customers who
already have the banking app on their phone - on iPhone, Android or
BlackBerry Smartphones, and on the iPad.

The launch comment from Ben Green, head of mobile at NatWest and RBS,
well now have a sense or irony: 'We've heard countless stories
from customers who've left their wallet behind, or parents who
need a quick way to send money across to their children immediately.'



NatWest, which is the main branch operation in the UK for the part-nationalised
Royal Bank of Scotland group, said in a statement: 'This is a technical problem
affecting a large number of NatWest and Ulster Bank customers,
and a small number of RBS customers, including some of our business customers. 

'It was caused by a failure of our systems to properly update customers' balances overnight.
The main problem customers are having is that where people have had money go into their
accounts overnight, there may be a delay in it showing up on their balance.


'This is an unacceptable inconvenience for our customers, for which we
apologise. We can assure our customers that
this problem is strictly of a technical nature and will
be fixed as soon as possible. We can also confirm that no customers will be permanently out of
pocket as a result of this.'

A spokeswoman declined to comment on whether this would also
mean the bank would cover late payment penalties incurred
as result of the account failures.

The RBS group has 26million customers in the UK with nearly eight million holding NatWest current
accounts.

RBS-owned Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland, with 100,
000 customers, is also affected. 

The problems began at 8am, according to reports from
customers.

Hundreds of customers turned to NatWest's feedback website to voice their anger.
One customer wrote: 'If my Direct Debits bounce as a result
of my wages not showing, are you going to cover my charges &
waiver your own for bounced payments please?'

At 2.50pm, nearly seven hours after the problems began, NatWest added a statement to the page saying: 'We continue to experience technical
issues and are doing everything we can to resolve ASAP.


'We recognise this has caused significant inconvenience.

This is an unacceptable inconvenience for our customers for which we
apologise.'

Bob Spearman, from Petworth, West Sussex, told the BBC
his tax credit payment had not been paid into his NatWest account.


'We, like many other low-income families, live from week to week and the Child Tax Credit weekly payment is a lifeline
on which we rely,' he said.

Thousands more comments were posted on Twitter.

Some people reported being unable to use their cards to make
payments.

Customer Kora-Lee Holmes said she was stranded in Venice, Italy,
because she was unable to check out of her hotel because her NatWest
card was not working.

She wrote: 'Missed my flight home from Venice because
Natwest's server problems mean I can't check out of my hotel.
New flights = £200.'

From 3.30pm, some customers reported that payments
and salary payments were beginning to show in accounts.


Following a breakdown in trust in banking, the industry has
try to rebuilt its relationship with customers in recent years.
NatWest launched a multi-million pound advertising campaign in 2010 to promote its Customer Charter.


The 14-point charter included the commitment: 'If we make a mistake we will apologise and fix it, quickly and fairly.'

That may give hope to those seeking compensation for late payment penalties that
they may face.

RBS shares shed 6p, or nearly 2.5 per cent, as the events unfolded, down from an intra-day high of 250p at midday.





Helpful Banking: The 'Your Ideas' feedback page on the NatWest website


'More problems ahead for all British banks'

Last week, RBS-NatWest launched a mobile banking app that lets people to
withdraw money from cash machines using their smartphone.


It is the latest bank to offer such technology as the industry moves towards making smartphones digital wallets.


But the rush to offer new technology may come at a price.


Experts warned that customers of UK banks would increasingly face such
problems because of the rush to deliver new and evermore sophisticated services.


Daoud Fakhri, senior analyst at consultancy Datamonitor Financial
Services, said: ‘This episode is emblematic of wider problems
facing the banking sector as a whole.

'Many providers, being early adopters of
IT systems when the technology was still in its infancy, have been left saddled
with inflexible core systems that are often several
decades old, and that are increasingly unable to cope
with the demands being placed on them.

‘The growing expectations of consumers around online and mobile banking means that the tensions between the provision of ever more sophisticated services and the capability of core
systems to satisfy these demands are close to breaking point, and
this increases the likelihood of episodes such as the NatWest mishap happening again.'

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NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. healthcare companies are
gaining favor as investors bank on their ability to weather rocky
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Healthcare has been the top-performing S&P 500 sector over the past month, rising nearly 3% while the broader market has fallen modestly.
The group has fallen 8.7% so far this year, less severe than the nearly 20% drop for the benchmark S&P 500 overall.


Strategists at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BofA Global Research are among those favoring the healthcare sector,
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posted earnings growth in those periods, according
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Healthcare is trading at 15.7 times forward earnings estimates against
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Meanwhile, other defensive sectors are trading at premiums relative to their historical valuations - with utilities at a premium of over 30%
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ratio of the overall S&P 500.

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Tony DeSpirito, chief investment officer of U.S.

fundamental equities at BlackRock, said in his third-quarter equity outlook in which he described "an underappreciated opportunity in healthcare stocks."

To be sure, should investors become more upbeat about the economy, that could lead them to leave behind healthcare shares for more cyclically sensitive stocks such as financials or industrials.


Healthcare also for years has faced persistent investor concerns about regulatory
changes, particularly related to potential
U.S. action to rein in prescription drug prices, which has created a cloud over the stocks.


In the coming months, Democrats in U.S. Congress could try to pass a drug-pricing bill,
and "biopharma stocks could be volatile if legislation progresses," analysts at SVB Securities said
in a note.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Matthew Lewis)