Professional Images

TSB CEO out after months of IT problems

TSB’s CEO, Paul Pester, is stepping down after the bank and its customers were beset by another round of IT problems

TSB CEO Paul Pester is leaving the bank in the wake of an IT disaster that has blighted customers since the bank migrated their accounts to a new core banking platform.

He is stepping down after seven years in charge.

The announcement follows the latest IT problems experienced by the bank over the weekend, as thousands of customers were locked out of their accounts due to problems with mobile banking services.

The problems started in April when TSB moved millions of customer accounts from the Lloyds Banking Group IT system that hosted them to a new banking platform, known as Proteo4UK, from TSB’s Spanish parent Sabadell. Proteo4UK is an in-house banking platform based on Sabadell’s Proteo system.

Read more about the TSB IT migration disaster

The Proteo system was introduced to give TSB the infrastructure required to harness the latest IT and become a challenger to the big high street banks.

Problems following the migration included customers being locked out of their accounts, others reporting money disappearing from online accounts, and some were even able to see other customers’ accounts.

TSB chairman Richard Meddings will take on the role of executive chairman until a replacement for Pester is announced.

“Although there is more to do to achieve full stability for customers, the bank’s IT systems and services are much improved since the IT migration,” said Meddings. “Paul and the board have therefore agreed that this is the right time to appoint a new CEO for TSB.”

In its financial results for the first half of 2018, the bank reported that it had set aside £176m to cover costs related to the IT problems. These costs include customer compensation and extra advisory services from companies such as IBM and Deloitte.

Read more on IT for financial services