Red-faced Lloyds in web wipe-out

A COMPUTER foul-up has wiped out the transaction records of Lloyds TSB's 1.6m internet customers, it emerged at the weekend. The bank has been forced to send out duplicate paper statements to customers following the debacle, which was partly triggered by a £250m upgrade.

The bank, the most successful in encouraging customers to go online, added that it still holds the records in its own system. Users can check their balance - but not the transactions that led up to it.

The glitch is particularly embarrassing for Lloyds, given its attempt to make the internet a key part of its strategy following its takeover of TSB six years ago.

Earlier this year the site was closed to many customers for nearly a week following a breakdown between customers' browsers and the site. The latest glitch stemmed from a project to merge the Lloyds and TSB systems and a separate initiative to offer customer real-time information.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 30, 2001