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Software Glitch Keeps TSB Users Stranded Into Second Week

Half of TSB’s Online Customers Stranded Week After Software Snag

(Bloomberg) -- Banco De Sabadell SA’s U.K. subsidiary, TSB Banking Group, entered a second week of struggles to fix technical problems that left half of its online clients cut off from their accounts after an attempt to shift 5 million customers to a new platform went awry.

Internet banking was operating at around 50 percent of capacity as of late Sunday, meaning that only five out of every 10 customers trying to use TSB’s online service would succeed, a spokeswoman for the bank said.

TSB’s attempt to upgrade systems for its 1.9 million active online and mobile customers failed a week ago, leaving hundreds of thousands unable to access their accounts. The bank tried to switch 5 million customers and 1.3 billion records to software run by its Spain-based parent Sabadell from a system operated by Lloyds Banking Group Plc, which sold TSB three years ago. Lloyds’s Chief Financial Officer George Culmer said last week that the lender had fulfilled its obligations and that there is nothing more it can do to solve TSB’s problem.

Sabadell’s stock was up 0.2 percent to 1.63 euros at 11:29 a.m. in Madrid. The shares dropped about 7 percent last week.

Software Glitch Keeps TSB Users Stranded Into Second Week

The system collapse could result in TSB paying millions in fines and compensation. TSB will consider claims from non-TSB customers who suffered losses, Chief Executive Officer Paul Pester told the Sunday Times.

TSB said in a statement it will waive overdraft fees and interest charges in April for its retail and small business customers, as well as increase the interest rate on its Classic Plus account to 5 percent from 3 percent. A spokeswoman at the Financial Conduct Authority said by email that the U.K. regulator plans to talk to the firm to understand what went wrong.

“No one will be left out of pocket as a result of these problems,” Pester said in a statement. ”Our teams continue to work around the clock to fix the problems that some of our customers are having in accessing their TSB accounts.”

--With assistance from Kasper Viita and Stefania Spezzati

To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Edde in London at jedde2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry, Jon Menon

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