Halifax Online fails again

Posted on 29 Sep 2000 at 15:27

Halifax has been forced to postpone its online banking service for a third time after its Intelligent Finance (IF) banking arm suffered another troubled start.

The postponement was made after doubts arose over the stability of the computer systems. The telephone banking side finally got underway without any problems.

The delay will further add to the start-up cost of the venture, which is reported to be more than £90 million this year.

IF chief executive Jim Spowart said he had always planned to open the phone banking service followed by online and then mobile banking. He added that he would not be putting a release date on the Web service to avoid being caught out again.

Rival Internet banks have also been plagued with technical problems. Cahoot, Abbey National's online bank, saw its systems crash on the first day of operations. And Prudential Egg has had a rough ride since its inauguration.

Author: Jonathan Younger