Ulster Unionist MLAs took the opportunity to question
Ulster Bank senior managers at Thursday morning’s
Enterprise, Trade Investment committee at Stormont.
Speaking after the meeting, Economy spokesperson and
Mid-Ulster MLA Sandra Overend said; “I welcome the fact
that the Ulster Bank sent such a senior team to appear in
front of the Committee. There was a frank exchange of views
and some in depth questioning and I feel they provided us
with more information than had previously been the case.
This episode has been an absolute disaster for Ulster Bank.
They were slow to respond, slow to explain the situation
and in particular were slow to explain exactly what the
problem was and why it had occurred. Deadlines kept moving
and people simply did not know where they stood.
I challenged the Ulster Bank as to whether or not they had
learned from these communication failures, in relation to
both customers and their staff in the branches.
The Committee will be contacting business organisations to
establish the full scale of the impact of this dreadful
situation and we look forward to meeting with Ulster Bank
again following the outcome of their promised internal
review. My sympathies lie entirely with those customers who
have faced real hardship and inconvenience in personal and
business lives. Lessons must be learned so that this is
situation can never happen again.
East Antrim MLA and Finance committee member Roy Beggs MLA
said:
“It appears that finally a significant amount of effort is
being expended by Ulster Bank and RBS management in trying
to resolve this issue and providing additional information
to customers through the additional 100 staff that have
been drafted in to support local customers. Front line
staff must be commended for their efforts to assist
customers given the almost impossible situation that they
have been placed in since the loss of the banking IT
system.”
“The Ulster Bank crisis has come at huge cost to
customers, individual businesses and even non-Ulster Bank
customers who are awaiting payment from individuals and
businesses who bank with the Ulster Bank. It will
also have come at a considerable cost to the Ulster Bank
itself. It would be wholly unacceptable if senior
executives were to accept bonuses following this fiasco,
particularly when the Bank is itself in public ownership.”
-ENDS-
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