BBC Breakfast was halted on Friday (February 28) as host announced some “breaking news”.
Towards the end of the programme, Charlie revealed that a host of retail banks, including Nationwide and First Direct, have confirmed issues with their online banking systems.
“Just wanting to bring you news of a story that we’re just hearing about. Nationwide and First Direct are saying that some customers may be facing problems with online banking,” he began.
“Now, it is affecting some incoming and outcoming payments, leaving many without access to funds on pay day at the end of the month,” co-host added, before handing over to correspondent Ben Boulos.
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BBC Breakfast host Charlie Stayt announced breaking news on Friday (February 28) (Image: BBC)
“[It’s the] last Friday of the month, a lot of people will be wanting to check, wanting to access their money to pay bills and so on. What we’re hearing, this news breaking in the last few minutes, is that Nationwide, First Direct, Lloyds and Halifax all confirming issues with their online banking systems,” Ben explained.
“This is the second month in a row that major banks have been hit with some sort of IT issues around pay day. The experts are saying that often these systems struggle with the sheer demand on them, the transactions, the number of people trying to log in… Wages going in, bills going out, that sort of thing.”
Ben then reassured viewers who may be experiencing issues with their banking app, saying: “So, if people are, this morning, struggling to log in to any of those banking apps, they’re not alone. It’s not an issue with their own phone or their computer, this is a system with the bank apps themselves.”
He concluded: “There’s no indication about what’s behind this, but obviously people will be concerned.
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Several banks have confirmed issues with their online banking systems (Image: BBC)
“It’s worth saying, keep an eye on the News Channel, keep an eye on the app and our website. That story will be followed throughout the day with any updates that people need, they can find them there.”
Platform outage monitor Downdetector saw reports of technical issues affecting the Lloyds Bank app rise to more than 4,000 on Friday morning, as well as 3,600 complaints from Halifax customers. Another 900 TSB customers logged issues, while 600 more Bank of Scotland users had problems, as well.
The technical problems follow a Barclays mobile banking outage, which affected UK customers on pay day in January. Some customers experienced issues for several days, leaving them unable to purchase essentials or make vital transactions.
The Treasury Committee has written to the bosses of nine banks asking for information about the scale and impact of IT failures on customers.
Breakfast airs daily on One at 6am