RBS has more than just computer trouble

RBS's software meltdown proves the bank has morphed into a bureaucratic, public-sector nightmare, says Matthew Lynn. There's only one thing left to do.

We all know that computers go wrong sometimes. The hard drive goes haywire, the software freezes, and the broadband connection disappears for a sandwich and never comes back. Even so, most of us manage to get back on track within a few hours. At Royal Bank of Scotland, it seems to take days.

After embarking on what it described as a routine upgrade last week, RBS found its IT system crashing. For several days many customers of RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank were unable to access their accounts. Branches had to stay open over the weekend as exasperated customers had to get back into the habit of driving to a bank and queuing up behind somebody who seems to be paying in 3,000 two pence pieces, then sending a money order to Tanzania, while chatting about the weather at the same time. Surprised? Not really. The point to remember is this: RBS is now, in effect, a state-owned institution. Like just about everything else run by the government, it is starting to turn into a shambles.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.