Richard Price, a systems developer who has worked on banking systems like that of NatWest explained, "Banking systems are like a huge game of Jenga, most transactions are related and so everything needs to be processed in order.” This is what led to such big problems for so many customers as the order was disrupted.
It has also been reported that NatWest were unable to sort out the problems more quickly as since 2012 the majority of their IT jobs have been outsourced India.
A spokesperson from United Leeds Endeavours said that, “Although we’re pleased that NatWest extended their hours of opening to help clear the backlog of problems, there are still concerns about any after effects of the meltdown. We are glad however, that NatWest have put in place certain measures to help their customers.” These measures include the fact that interest on credit cards is to be waived for one month and customers are able to withdraw £100 over their limit while problems are still being corrected. Any overdraft activity experienced by customers will also not be recorded on customer’s credit files.
NatWest have also promised to implement strict quality assurance and user acceptance test before updating in the future. United Leeds Endeavours hopes that other banks will follow their example to prevent similar problems from occurring in future.
