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All of the 'big' UK banks are still on similar out dated technologies as TSB was, they were the first to try to move and it hasn't paid off. I hope the other major banks a) do it better b) don't use it as an excuse never to do it


Which is why I switched to Monzo. Their tech is so much better and is constantly being improved.

No reason not to switch really (unless you really, really need to deposit cash)


Revolut and Monzo have way more outages but are small enough to not draw the ire of regulators. You are living in a fantasy land if you think they operate with less risk than a major bank


When did Monzo last have an outage? I get them with Curve and Starling, but they use GPS for their payment processing. Monzo have built their own from the ground up.


I've got a Monzo account, which I'm a big fan of. However, Monzo have definitely had more outages and planned maintenance than the other online banking service I use, which is provided by a different UK bank. I'd consider that a reason not to make the jump.


This was true before they launched their own payment processing.

They often had outages in late 2017 and earlier due to 3rd party reliability.

I haven't had an outage since the current accounts have been released.

No affiliation; just a user since Beta.


I've been a user since the beta too, and while they do have less outages than when they used a third party payment platform, they certainly still have more outages than my other UK bank.


I assume you don't count planned outages also?


Other banks and stuff have outages. Monzo just bothers to tell you about issues.

Also the longest outage I remember was when the third party card processor's server broke and it took them a few days to rebuilt it (which is pretty unnaceptable in this day and age)


Is that after they left beta? I noticed quite a few outages, but that was while they still had the big beta disclaimer on things. I've not had any trouble since.


This wasn't an attempt at IT modernization. TSB had to migrate to a different system following their split from Lloyds.


Well, they didn't "have" to, it's just the Spanish parent bank didn't want to pay a competitor £100m a year to use their software system and mandated TSB move to their amazing, all new, all singing, all dancing, software platform.

Quite why that means the UK head needs to go ....


Because he was the happy face of the whole desaster. Claiming publicly how all was fine with very few account holders still having slight problems and repeating this lie ad-nauseum while 100'000s of customers couldn't access their accounts, couldn't make payment and didn't receive any help, whatsoever, from Mr. Pester.

Except lies and bullshit on a massive scale for weeks.

MEPs were also not impressed by his performance.[1]

[1] https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z...


Unfortunately we don't know if he was ordered to make those statements by the parent bank, or if he was inept.

It smacks to me of a symbolic "firing" to placate the tabloids in the UK, who hold far too much sway with the average person on the street.


The two cases are totally compatible.

Obviously if they were force to move they'd go to a new fangled IT system, not adopt some old tried and true system (those are too tied to the banks that developed them).


Yes, the more they wait to migrate, the more painful it will be

And of course expect the usual dissing by the 'frameheads on how these new systems are frail and how their old systems "are much better and foolproof" (they aren't)


I'm rooting for c) new banks arrive with new tech stacks and completely replace the old ones.




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