Poor IT forced government hand in Northern Rock takeover

[MPwannadecentincome]

I guess this is the type of stuff that Mich the Tester means when he refers to the management incompetencies in financial /banking systems IT developments

Inadequate computer systems forced the Treasury to rule out winding down Northern Rock, the building society taken over after a run on its funds, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report.

The state of the computer system meant depositors would have had to wait for their money, risking another major run, the fear that contagion would spread to other financial institutions and potential hardship for those reliant on access to their funds.

The current system required the manual closure of accounts, which would have taken 10 to 12 weeks, with error rates up to 25 per cent, the NAO said.

The Bank of England, accountants Ernst & Young and Northern Rock management had to update the IT systems to enable quicker repayment of depositors if needed at a later date.

The NAO report criticised the Treasury for lacking procedures for taking over a major institution but accepted nationalisation offered the best prospect of protecting taxpayers' interests.

[BrilloPad]

IT was also blamed for causing the house price crash of the late 80s. Is everything to be blamed on IT?

Of course if they had Cybertory coding it would have been fine......

[MPwannadecentincome]

IT was also blamed for causing the house price crash of the late 80s.

really?

The Northern Rock story I can believe (too early for april fool).

house price crash - no.

[PM-Junkie]

I've heard that it was actually IT that was responsible for triggering WW2, and Germany's invasion of Poland was merely as a result of the confusion caused by failings in IT.

And the spread of the bubonic plague across Europe in the 14th century was a direct result of an appallingly lack of an anti-virus strategy, again entirely the fault of incompetent IT people.

[chris79]

What about the people at the top, I thought IT was no longer a black box in organisations and was now integral and aligned correctly through effective IT governance.

[Doggy Styles]

And the spread of the bubonic plague across Europe in the 14th century was a direct result of an appallingly lack of an anti-virus strategy, again entirely the fault of incompetent IT people.

As was the failure to delete the trojan horse at, er, Troy.

[Mich the Tester]

IT was also blamed for causing the house price crash of the late 80s. Is everything to be blamed on IT?

Of course if they had Cybertory coding it would have been fine......

It's not IT as such that is the problem, or necessarily the techies who build the stuff; it's often the management who push ahead with risky projects, outsourcing knowledge and ill advised attempts at merging systems while not listening to the advice of analysts 'at the coalface'.

[Mich the Tester]

What about the people at the top, I thought IT was no longer a black box in organisations and was now integral and aligned correctly through effective IT governance.

...and I thought I looked like Brad Pitt and every woman on earth would fall at my feet begging to perform fellatio on me.

[Cyberman]

Absolute rubbish. They took it to stop Branson making a fortune in order to 'reap the rewards of recovery for the taxpayer', as per Darling's exact words. Incidentally, the run was caused by HMG and the BofE themselves!!

This is more HMG propaganda to try to cover their mistakes.

[Bagpuss]

I remember, the other week you were telling us you supported tighter lending controls and wished it was done some time ago. Perhaps during the time you were heavily investing in the NR with it's 125% LTV self cert mortgages funded by the money markets?

You sir are a Troll!