NatWest outage leaves customers locked out of cash as app glitch hits savings pots

Customers of NatWest were left unable to access their money after a technical fault affecting the bank’s mobile app caused funds to seemingly disappear, in the latest blow to confidence in digital banking.

The issue, linked to the lender’s recently launched “savings pots” feature, disrupted transfers over the weekend and into the start of the week, with users reporting problems moving money in and out of the virtual accounts via both the app and online banking.

Some customers said they were left significantly out of pocket. One user claimed £3,500 vanished after transferring it out of a pot to pay for accommodation, only to find the funds missing and their account pushed into overdraft.

NatWest said the fault had now been resolved and that affected balances would be corrected by Tuesday afternoon, insisting no customers would ultimately lose money as a result of the glitch.

A spokesperson said: “Some customers have experienced a delay when withdrawing or topping-up their Pots through our mobile app and online banking.

We’ve resolved this and are applying these transactions to customers‘ accounts, so they will see their balances update shortly. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

The bank added that the problem was confined to NatWest accounts, with sister brands Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank unaffected.

The disruption comes just weeks after a separate incident at Lloyds Banking Group, which saw hundreds of thousands of customers across Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland briefly exposed to other users’ transaction data due to a technical failure.

In a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, the group later confirmed that up to 447,936 customers had been affected by the March 12 incident, with some reporting alarm after seeing unfamiliar payments and personal information in their apps.

Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said the episode highlighted the risks inherent in modern banking systems, warning that while digital services offer speed and convenience, they also carry the potential for “unpredictable errors”.

The latest outage is likely to intensify scrutiny of banks’ IT resilience, as regulators and MPs raise concerns over the growing frequency of technical failures affecting millions of customers.