5,000 statements reissued by TSB after euro muddle

TSB Bank has been forced to re-issue statements to 5,000 customers following a computer error arising out of the changeover to the euro. In the past couple of days, it has been discovered that corrected statements sent to around 300 of these customers contained a further error and will again have to be re-issued.

The bank has apologised for any inconvenience caused to customers - accountholders at TSB and its former subsidiary Tusa.

The transactions shown on the 5,000 statements were correct but an error was made in a message at the bottom of the statement that reports the equivalent pound value.

A spokesman explained that, where the balance on current and some loan accounts was tallied in euro, due to a computer error the pound balance was miscalculated. In this instance, the computer assumed that the final total was in pounds and calculated it into a euro balance. This meant that the message showed that the pound balance was substantially less than it should have been.

In the case of the 300 the same error was made again but in reverse. In these cases, the computer assumed the euro balance was actually in pounds and again calculated an incorrect figure for customers.

The spokesman said the bank had now fully analysed all of these statements and had written to affected customers. "We are now confident that we have identified the statements concerned and are satisfied that the balance message on new statements will be correct," the spokesman said yesterday.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a number of the bank's customers are still waiting to receive a euro chequebook. The bank said most current account holders received a new cheque book in October and November, but a small number of orders for euro chequebooks have been made since January 1st and were now being processed.

The decision as to who should get a euro chequebook was made at branch level. It was decided that customers who had not ordered a chequebook in the past year should not get a euro chequebook. A number of these customers have since contacted the bank and chequebooks have been ordered.

These customers are likely to have to wait a further week or so because of the workload involved in printing additional chequebooks.

AIB customers have been receiving their euro chequebooks this week and most are expected to arrive by the weekend.

The TSB spokesman said some of its 250,000 current account customers who do not normally use chequebooks had wanted to have a euro chequebook and will receive one when they are printed. Some customers with joint accounts have also requested a second chequebook and are currently awaiting them.