Lloyds boss says tech outages a ‘really important issue’ for bank
25 July 2024, 11:14
The high street bank and UK’s biggest mortgage lender said it was laser-focused on making its technology more resilient.
The boss of Lloyds has said last week’s global technology outage showed the need to “remain humble”, as cyber attacks and IT failures have become a major issue for the bank’s top team.
The high street bank and UK’s biggest mortgage lender said it was laser-focused on making its technology more resilient.
A flawed update rolled out by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike impacted IT systems and caused substantial disruption around the world on Friday.
It led to flight and train cancellations, crippled some healthcare systems, and crashed millions of computers using Windows.
It also affected payment systems, leaving many businesses unable to take digital payments.
Charlie Nunn, the chief executive of Lloyds, said: “The event on Friday was an important one and an example of why we need to stay focused on resilience around tech.
“We have got 22 million digitally active customers. We, I think, have the biggest digital service in the UK outside social media.”
Mr Nunn said the bank did not have any major issues related to the outage last Friday.
“But, this is one of those areas where you remain humble and you recognise you’re going to have to constantly be reinventing and investing in your own capabilities to be able to protect yourself, our customers and the UK economy going forward.”
The chief executive stressed that it was a “really important issue for us as a management team”, and that it was “learning every day and every week that we have attacks inside and outside the UK”.
Lloyds said it has been investing significantly in its technology and staff as banking becomes increasingly digital.
It said more and more customers are using online and mobile banking for everyday tasks such as checking balances and paying bills, but also for more complex financial needs such as taking out insurance or making an investment.
At the start of the year, the bank revealed it was cutting about 1,600 jobs across its branch network as part of the ongoing shift away from traditional high street banking.
