HSBC hit by payments crash on payday

Customers at HSBC are having problems transferring money because of a payments systems crash at the bank.

The glitch has struck just as customers await their salary payments for the end of the month, and as they prepare to take the long weekend off.

In addition, Friday is typically the day on which house sales complete, and the funds to buy and sell homes are transferred.

After more than seven hours working on the problem, the bank said it was able to start transferring the delayed funds.

"HSBC apologises for the significant inconvenience caused to customers by today’s payments problems. We are now processing the payments so that they reach the beneficiary accounts as quickly as possible," the bank said.

"The majority of payments will be completed over the course of the afternoon and early evening, with any remaining payments completed overnight. We are committed to ensuring that no one loses out as a result of today’s unacceptable problems. We will work with our customers and the other banks including providing compensation where appropriate."

"Customers who do not receive the delayed payment by Saturday morning should speak with their bank in the first instance. They should also contact their bank if they have suffered any costs as a result of today’s problems."

Distressed customers took to Twitter to complain and to ask the bank for more information.

The problems hit not just HSBC customers themselves, but also the staff of those firms which bank with HSBC.

Other customers are angry that the bank has given very little information on the problem, and has not said when full services will be up and running.

Payments operator BACS said it is aware of the problem, which is isolated to HSBC's payments processes.

“BACS is aware of an isolated issue that has affected one of its member organisations," the firm said. "The BACS system is operating as normal and we are currently working with our partners to help them resolve this as quickly as possible.”

It comes after series of payments problems at rival the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is ploughing £3.5bn into revamping its payments systems. RBS was fined £56m in 2014 over a lengthy payments outage in 2012.

Lloyds Banking Group was also struck by a failure of its Faster Payments system in 2013, while the Bank of England had computer problems leading to a crash in the CHAPS payments system last year.

“It is increasingly clear that most, if not all, of these banks’ IT payments systems need a good deal of investment, and there is a lot to put right,” said Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of the influential Treasury Select Committee.

“The banks, collectively, now need to make sure that customers are not put at a disadvantage by this, or subsequent IT failures, not least from unexpected overdraft charges.”

“I will be writing to the Chief Executive of HSBC, to obtain an assurance that no customers will lose out from these failures and to ask what is going to be done to prevent a repetition.”