Faster Payments has hit the buffers for the second time in as many weeks, but this time the problem appears to lie at the door of Lloyds Banking Group.
Customers of Lloyds and Halifax have reported receiving messages informing them that their transactions have failed to cross the network.
Lloyds has confirmed the reports, posting a tweet to apologise for the delays:
Earlier this month, the VocaLink operated scheme went down for four and a half hours on a Sunday afternoon, after experiencing "intermittent issues with its central infrastructure".
On this occasion, however, the problems appear to reflect internal issues at Lloyds.
In a statement to Finextra, a Faster Payments spokesperson says: “The central Faster Payments system is operating normally, however we are aware that Lloyds Banking Group is currently experiencing technical issues connected to its Faster Payments service. This is the system that is used to process telephone, internet, mobile and standing order payments. We are working to support Lloyds to ensure the issue is resolved as quickly as possible. Anyone experiencing problems should contact their bank or building society.”
All the same, the technology backbone of Faster Payments has begun to appear a little behind the times in the face of evolving cyber-threats and a global push for the implementation of the ISO 20022 protocol as a standard for messaging interoperability across the industry.
The decade-old system is currently scrutinising 'Expressions of Interest' from tech vendors for the renewal and management of its back-end infrastructure.