'Not many' left Ulster Bank over crisis

Published Monday, 29 October 2012

Ulster Bank bosses say they have not seen a large number of customers leave the company, after a crisis which affected hundreds of thousands of people in Northern Ireland.

A general view of the Ulster bank headquarters in Belfast. (© PA)

Customers were unable to access money in their accounts after a computer glitch affected customers for weeks over the summer.

It comes as Ulster Bank announces a £1.5bn injection to boost mortgage lending.

Stephen Cruise, Managing Director of Ulster Bank, told UTV: "We haven't seen a large number of people leaving the company.

"We have actually maintained customers and for that we are genuinely thankful.

"We believe a lot of the customers have been very loyal to those staff on our branches and this campaign is about continuing what we've been doing in the mortgage campaign, so we haven't lost customers and we're keen to continue to play our role in the NI economy."

Ulster Bank said it has increased its mortgage lending by 20% in all sectors of the mortgage market in the past quarter of 2012 - and believes the new push has resulted in more than 15,000 new mortgages in Northern Ireland.

Mr Cruise said: "We have simplified our pricing, introduced new products, initiatives and services to encourage, support and appeal to customers right across the borrowing spectrum."

Comments

7 Comments

julian marsh in portadown wrote (190 days ago):

i had been with the portadown branch since i was in school so i was a loyal customer and had no problems at all with the bank in those years. but the problems arose when it started to go up the left when the computers where down and i could not access my own account and did not know what money was where and i made myself overdrawn by £200 and the charges where applied. a nightmare so i paid the overdraft and closed my account so unhelpful and i was not compensated whatsoever. outa my life for good thank god.

ANON in NI wrote (197 days ago):

They must be getting it bad, I'm now getting chased for money owed, although I send forms in before the crash, and shortly after the resolution they gave me a mere 7 days to reply. eh..... sorry my computer crashed you'll have to wait 7 years to get your money, lets see how it washes..... Ulster / RBS / Natwest... you are a joke

j belfast in belfast wrote (201 days ago):

the best bank is northern bank they do everything for u and there a great bank to be with ive been with bank of ireland/ ulster bank/ halifax and frust trust and there all the same tell i got a northern bank account 5years ago and its the best bank ive been with and have no problems with them .

raven in belfast wrote (201 days ago):

While I have an Ulster Bank account I did open another account elsewhere and use it I just can't be bothered going in to close it. So I wonder how many accounts are sitting inactive rather than having actually being closed.

Ryan in Belfast wrote (201 days ago):

A few months before this Ulster Bank issue occured i was decided to switch banks from Northern Bank to either Ulster Bank or Bank of Ireland and THANKFULLY i choose Bank of Ireland because i wouldve been seriously effected like most were if i had opted to choose Ulster Bank. Im surprised most people havent left Ulster Bank because it was a disgrace not having access to your money for a month or so.

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