Bill to reimburse customers set to exceed €35m

Fully reimbursing the 600,000 customers affected by the recent IT systems meltdown at Ulster Bank will add “tens of millions” of euro onto the €35m already being set aside by the bank to cover the cost of the issue.

It is still unclear as to whether customers will receive goodwill compensation payments, in addition to account expenses.

The bank yesterday said it is in discussions with various bodies including the Central Bank/Financial Regulator, consumer bodies, and industry representatives over the issue of compensation. It declined to put a figure on the possible final cost.

Chief executive Jim Brown said additional costs of “tens of thousands” of euro are likely to materialise on top of the £28m (€35m) provision the bank has already made for what it calls the “technology incident” which disrupted salary transfers, direct debit transactions, and social welfare payments for many of its customers.

Ulster Bank has already said it will reimburse customers on fees for money transfers, overdrafts, and direct debits on unpaid bills, as well as covering the costs of lost interest on savings accounts.

“Given the scale of the impact on our customers, we expect that there will be additional costs over the coming months as we continue the process of putting things right,” Mr Brown said.

He added that the bank hopes to have the matter of redress largely in hand by the end of the year.

Mr Brown said the bank has a 176-year history and a strong heritage in Ireland, as well as a reputation for good service to customers and businesses, and hoped that customers “won’t judge us on one event alone”, adding that management “really do regret” the incident.

Mr Brown also said the bank has not seen any deposit attrition or instances of customers leaving since the incident.