Latest RBS IT blunder hits dormant account holders

The still 73 per cent state-owned lender told about 4,500 customers them they did not have dormant accounts with the lender after they tried to retrieve cash from the inactive accounts using a website created for that purpose by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA).

The Edinburgh-based bailed-out lender says it has now launched an internal investigation into the blunder, and is thought to have informed the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

After a computer glitch is believed to have caused the problem, it has asked customers to reclaim their funds from their local branch.

The bank said the average amount held in each of the accounts was less than £50.

A spokeswoman for RBS said: “Unfortunately we wrongly advised some customers who had made a request through the BBALost Account scheme that they did not hold a dormant account with us.

“We are very sorry that this happened. As soon as we discovered this we took steps to correct our error.

“We are writing to all affected customers and asking them to visit their local branch with ID to reclaim their outstanding balance. We have apologised for the inconvenience caused and are making sure that we put this right.”

It follows two previous embarrassing IT breakdowns. In June 2012, the FCA slapped RBS with a £56million fine after six million customers were locked out of their accounts for days.

In June 2015, payments into the accounts of about 600,000 customers at RBS were delayed by a computer failure.

Speaking about t he bank’s latest problem last week, chief executive Ross McEwan said it would take “a long time” to restore public trust in banks.