Union blames RBS computer glitch on job cuts Serious questions must be asked as to why constant job cuts are being made when there are clearly serious issues which need addressing by management. Customers and staff have the right to expect more from their bank. An RBS Group spokesman said that the computer glitch happened in the UK and had nothing to do with outsourcing. This definitely happened in the UK. It is a UK-based issue. It is nothing to do with India or outsourcing," he said. Yesterday NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland have warned their 12 million customers that a computer glitch that has prevented them from paying bills or moving money could go on for another 48 hours, making the week-long crisis the UK's longest ever bank computer failure. The banks, which are both part of RBS Group, which 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer, refused to give a detailed explanation of the causes of the crisis despite the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and desperate consumers demanding answers. Many account holders said they were running out of food and electricity. The banks admitted that they did not know how many accounts were affected by the computer problem, which started last Tuesday night when technicians updated some IT software. Yesterday over 1,200 NatWest and RBS branches opened on a Sunday for the first time in the banks" histories to deal with customer complaints. Today 1,000 branches will open for extended hours - from 8am and to 7pm - to help customers. Growing customer anger came as the effects of the IT meltdown began spreading to other banks and building societies, many of which have not received mortgage payments or other money owned to them by Natwest and RBS customers. Susan Allen, director of customer service at RBS Group, said that she is "cautiously optimistic" that the backlog will be cleared and that customer account balances will be "largely back to normal" today. However an RBS Group spokesman said that there is a "high likelihood" that there will be further delays in some transactions over the next two days as the banks try to restore normality to their computer systems.