RBS system crashes on UK’s busiest Ecommerce day of the year

UK-based bank RBS experienced technical difficulties on Monday, December 2^nd.

December 2^nd was perceived to be the busiest Ecommerce day in the UK, with Mega Monday and Cyber Monday sales. Between 6:30pm and 9:30pm cardholders from RBS and its 2 subsidiaries, NatWest and Ulster Bank were unable to place Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term with their credit or debit cards, draw funds from ATMs, or use the bank’s online banking service. Tuesday morning also saw numerous cardholders still having issues with completing transactions.

With over 24 million customers in the UK as of 2012, the technical crash could not have come at a worse time, with an estimated £1.3 billion ($2.1 billion) to be spent in the UK during Monday. No numbers on how much was actually spent yesterday have been publicized, but the assumption is much less than anticipated due to the system failure.

RBS cardholders took to the internet to vent on the issues caused on Monday. "And there goes my plan to get some Xmas shopping bargains online tonight. No #Cyber Monday for me. #RBS is ruining Christmas," is an example of one of the tweets.

RBS released an official apology to its cardholders. RBS also stated they will evaluate compensation on a case-by-case basis.

"For decades, RBS failed to invest properly in its systems. We need to put our customers' needs at the centre of all we do. It will take time, but we are investing heavily in building IT systems our customers can rely on,” RBS CEO, Ross McEwan, added on the system failure.