NatWest Mobile Banking App Experiences Outage, Thousands Affected

NatWest has issued an apology following a widespread outage that left thousands of UK customers unable to access their bank accounts via the mobile app. The issue began at 09:10 GMT, with over 3,000 complaints reported on Downdetector. Although NatWest claimed that its online banking services were still operational, some customers disputed this, reporting additional issues with online access and payment attempts. Card transactions, however, remain unaffected.

Many customers expressed frustration on social media, citing disruptions to daily activities such as grocery shopping due to an inability to transfer funds. NatWest has acknowledged the issue but has not provided a timeframe for resolution, stating that their technical team is working urgently to restore services. The bank advised customers to use online banking as an alternative, although some reported that this too was unreliable.

This incident adds to a growing list of banking outages in the UK. A March report revealed that major banks, including NatWest, have experienced over 800 hours of tech outages since 2023. These outages not only inconvenience customers but also incur financial penalties for banks. While Barclays could face £12.5 million in compensation, NatWest has already paid £348,000. The recurring nature of such issues raises concerns about banks’ increasing reliance on digital platforms without adequate investment in their stability.