TSB 'turned down help' from Lloyds over IT meltdown

TSB rejected help from former owner Lloyds Banking Group at the start of an IT meltdown that left 1.9m customers without access to their online bank accounts and leaked their personal data with other clients, according to reports.

After TSB changed owners from LLoyds to Spanish bank Sabadell, the company faced trouble changing their online platform last month. On Monday 23 April, previous owner Lloyds Bank offered to help TSB at the start of their IT malfunctions, according to people close to the incident who told the Financial Times.

Reportedly, TSB rejected Lloyds’ help and declined to comment on the offer. TSB said: “Our teams have continued to work around the clock to put things right for our customers. Our priority has been to utilise the expertise of IBM together with Sabis [the group IT arm of TSB’s owner Sabadell] and our in-house teams to help resolve these issues.”

Although Lloyds’ ownership of TSB ended in 2013 it continued to use their online platform for the next five years.

John Mann, a Labour MP said that the rejection of Lloyd’s offer meant that TSB hadn’t acknowledged the gravity of the problems and wanted to get away with it.: “They were playing fast and loose with the customers and also with their reputation, which has been so damaged by it now”.