Bank of England demands lenders prepare better for IT failures after TSB and Visa meltdowns

TSB
A bungled IT system switch by TSB temporarily locked millions of customers out of their online accounts Credit: Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The Bank of England is demanding City firms better prepare for IT failures after systems meltdowns at TSB and Visa disrupted vital services for millions of customers.

Regulators on Threadneedle Street are considering mandating a minimum level of service for key finance firms, even if they are hit by a major cyber attack or other technical malfunction.

TSB has laboured through eight weeks of IT failures following a botched system switch in April, which led to weeks of customers being unable to access mobile and online banking services.

The bank’s under-fire boss Paul Pester last week admitted to MPs a litany of knock-on faults, with 1,300 people losing money through fraud attacks, while 370 former...

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