It has been claimed that a lone junior technician in India has been blamed for the panic that left thousands of bank customers with no access to their bank accounts.
The member of a team in Hyderabad, India allegedly wiped information from computers during a routine software upgrade.
A source in the company told IT industry news site The Register that an “inexperienced operative”, possibly hired earlier this year, was to blame for the calamity which led to serious problems for the bank’s customers, including a man who was denied his release from prison due to lack of bail payments.
The update to the banks’ customer database system failed, but rather than backing out of the update and trying again the IT operative continued with the action, which caused the data wipe.
RBS has outsourced around 20,000 UK to India in recent years to cut operations costs. The bank has so far refused to comment on The Register’s claims.
Today, RBS pulled out of its corporate hospitality at Wimbledon due to the recent news, saying that to continue at the tournament would be “inappropriate”. Bank of England boss Sir Mervyn King suggested that the banks’ bosses should face a “detailed investigation”.
