Ulster Bank’s ‘fast buck’ mentality led to system failure
Senator Lorraine Higgins has accused Ulster Bank chiefs of cutting corners and of having a “fast buck” mentality that ultimately led to their banking fiasco.
Senator Higgins accused the Bank of outsourcing key technical tasks to inexperienced workers to save money but which has backfired in spectacular fashion.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Senator Higgins said it was her understanding that Ulster Bank advertised “urgent” job positions for administration of CA-7 last February in India and that they were paying the new operatives 20% less than their English equivalent.
“Was the decision taken by senior management to outsource its operations overseas done with the engagement of a third party consultancy firm or did Ulster Bank carry out due diligence measures?” she asked.
“If the bank failed to do either then they quite simply made a negligent business decision and must blame themselves rather than the IT team. In these are the circumstances then the board of Ulster bank/Royal Bank of Scotland should resign forthwith.
Senator Higgins is also critical of why the bank did not appear to have a business continuity plan in the event of systems failure.
“If this had been done then the Bank would have been able to switch to a separate facility and been able to continue operations and this disaster would never have happened”.
Senator Higgins said that while Ulster Bank have announced they are considering compensation for affected customers, this was entirely appropriate as account holders had strong legal cases to proceed against the bank in any event
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Weather for Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland
Saturday 25 May 2013
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Light rain
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