UK: Halifax's web banking trouble

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_947000/947884.stm

Halifax's web banking trouble

UK bank Halifax has postponed plans to offer online banking indefinitely, after the third attempt to launch its Intelligent Finance (IF) banking arm had yet another troubled start. The telephone banking side of the operation finally got under way on Thursday without any problems.

But doubts over the stability of computer systems forced the bank to postpone the launch of its internet venture.

The delay - the original start date was July - will add considerably to the start-up costs of the venture, which is reported to be more than #90m this year.

IF chief executive Jim Spowart said he had always planned to open the phone bank first, followed by online and mobile banking.

He said he did not want to put a date on the launch of the web offering to avoid getting caught out again.

Two launch dates, July and August, were both been missed, as the bank feared that strong demand for its Scottish-based service could overload its systems.

Rival Cahoot, the online banking arm of Abbey National, saw its systems crash on the first day of operations.

Other popular online banks like Prudential's Egg have also been plagued by technical problems.

-- Jim McAteer (jim_mcateer@hotmail.com), September 29, 2000

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