Barclays' new DIY investment service hit by IT problems
Customers have been locked out of Barclays Bank's new online DIY investment site, which was introduced last week to replace a 30-year-old stockbroking service. The glitch came as the bank moved 200,000 customers to the Smart Investor site, with many unable to log in and others being unable to perform transactions, according to a Financial Times report. When affected customers sought to contact Barclays, many were left waiting for up to an hour on hold as staff sought to handle the surge of complaints. 

Barclays (LON:BARC) has been hit with a series of problems at its new DIY investment site, leaving many customers unable to log into their accounts, the Financial Times has disclosed. The website recently replaced the lender’s 30-year-old stockbroking service.

Barclays’ share price has fallen deep into the red this morning, having shed 0.91 percent to 190.40p as of 09:45 BST, underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.15 percent lower at 7,427.20 points. The group’s shares have added just under 10 percent to their value over the past year, but have given up some 14 percent in the year-to-date.

The FT reported on Friday that Barclays had been hit with a series of problems at its new Smart Investor site, leaving many customers unable to log into their accounts and missing transactions. The FTSE 100 group shifted more than 200,000 customers with £14 billion of assets over the bank holiday weekend, from its traditional Barclays Stockbrokers unit, to the new website, designed to appeal to a broader range of customers.

The newspaper noted, however, that a number of customers had said that they had not received log-in details and were even missing transactions in their account. Customers suffered waiting times of up to an hour to reach Barclays’ customer services, and the bank was forced to turn off its live chat service to free up more staff to deal with the flood of calls.

Barclays explained that customers complaining of missing transactions were likely being affected by changes to limit orders — orders to buy and sell stocks at specific prices. The bank had told customers before the switch that any limit orders would not be carried over to the new system and would need to be re-entered.

The news comes as FTSE 100 peer RBS (LON:RBS) signalled that it will invest heavily in IT in an effort to improve reliability for customers, as well as stiffen its defences against hackers.

As of 10:01 BST, Monday, 04 September, Barclays share price is 190.75p.