On Thursday morning, NatWest customers around the UK experienced serious disruptions to their mobile banking services. An unforeseen IT failure was responsible for the massive inconvenience. The problems started at 0910 GMT, leaving thousands of customers unable to log in to their accounts via the bank’s mobile application. Over 3,000 people registered issues on the outage-monitoring site Downdetector, showing the far-reaching effect of the rupture.
As customers began posting on social media to share their bad experience, the crisis had spread. One customer seemed especially peeved, saying they had to “replace my groceries because of it.” One other individual reported that she was unable to transfer funds when attempting a purchase. This person’s unfortunate incident is a reflection of just how frustrating this IT failure can be.
Natwest quickly apologized for the inconvenience caused by the downtime. A spokesperson for the bank stated, “We’re really sorry about this and working to fix it as quickly as possible.” They failed to give any timeline to fix the problems.
Consumers voiced their frustration not just with the performance of the app, but with NatWest’s overall dependence on digital banking. Even Twitter user MattHunter09 blasted the bank for claiming to “save money” by closing thousands of branches. He argued that NatWest has not invested enough to maintain a stable system for its customers.
The IT failure left millions of NatWest customers without access to their funds, further raising issues surrounding the bank’s technological framework. In May, NatWest announced that more than 1.2 million people will experience the same thing in 2024. As the first disclosure noted, these questions relate to the core stability of the bank’s digital services.
The BBC reported on the unfolding situation, capturing the numerous complaints from frustrated customers who relied heavily on the mobile app for their banking needs. As the outage dragged on, Natwest came under increasing pressure to focus on the problem at hand. They needed to signal to customers that their digital services would be consistently reliable going forward.
