Following reports of the disappearance of millions of pounds due to a technical problem at Royal Bank of Scotland last week, the bank have decided to invest a further £150 million a year in order to improve their IT systems.
600,000 transactions disappeared from customer accounts during the IT failure, which highlighted that change was necessary and this was recognised by chief administrative officer Simon McNamara, who made the pledge to increase technology spending at an investor presentation.
McNamara explained that these changes to RBS’s technology will come by rationalising IT systems, retro-fitting legacy architecture and reducing supplier count. Alongside this, to improve automated bank transfer, the bank plan to invest in Ripple technology, who deliver leading IT solutions and support to businesses.
At the presentation, McNamara said that during the past year, the bank have tried to better their systems by reducing their 500 programmes to 200, which should put them in a better position to deal with future technical problems if they occur.
“Technology will on occasion fail. If and when that occurs, we need to ensure we can mask the impact on customers and recover as quickly and effectively as possible. It is important that it is handled well and competently,” McNamara said.
