subject: Sra Issues Guidance For Natwest And Rbs Account Holders [print this page] Over the past 5 days the news has been covered with the technical issues that have befallen the systems of Natwest and RBS account holders. Today, the boss of Royal Bank of Scotland has issued a statement attributing the issues to a failed software upgrade. The failure of the upgrade has led to thousands of customer's transactions being caught up in a nationwide backlog, causing failed transfers into and out of customer's accounts.
The issues are expected to be cleared up by Friday 30th with normal service recommencing by Monday. 1,200 0f the bank's main branches are exercising longer opening hours over the coming days to help clear the backlog as rapidly as possible. However, the issues have caused problems for payroll companies and businesses using the banks nationwide. Many business owners are particularly concerned about the effect of the technical issues on their reputation. The bank is waiving all overdraft and charges on all current accounts over last week.
The Solicitor's Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued guidance regarding the matter. The authority has recognised the issue and has said "with regard to completion that we cannot foresee a situation where disciplinary action would be taken due to problems that arise as a result of these difficulties" and "should there be a breach of the SRA Accounts Rules as a consequence of the present system failures, and solicitors acting in their clients' best interests to nevertheless complete transactions, disciplinary action will not be taken."
Solicitors dealing with monetary transactions which concern clients' accounts, as firms cannot access the client's transactions or account balances, should deal with the banks directly. In particular those at the completion stage of a conveyancing transaction have been advised to contact banks and bank managers directly to complete transactions to ensure that funds are available. When said solicitors are conversing with NatWest and RBS it is also advised that notes are taken of all conversations which have occurred, including times and dates, to prevent any further issues for the firm. Solicitors should do everything within their power to attain confirmation of payments; this includes conversing with the other party's solicitor and lender directly.
The same advice applies to the firms' business accounts and the legal firms should converse regularly with their bank to prevent issues such as becoming overdrawn when payments are made.
If this advice is followed the SYA do not predict any issues to present themselves related to the situation.
