“None of our clients were at any point left out of pocket as a result, and we will be working hard with many banks across the UK to recover the duplicated transactions over the coming days.”
(Picture: Getty Images)This year, the European bank Santander brought the Christmas spirit to people’s accounts by accidentally depositing £130m across 75,000 transactions.
According to CNBC, this mishap occurred when payments from 2,000 business accounts in the UK were processed twice.
This meant that some employees saw their earnings double, while suppliers also received more than expected.
The bank noted that the duplicated payments resulted from a “scheduling issue” that has now been fixed.
It is now trying to recoup the payments, as many have gone into bank accounts that rival banks operate.
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A Santander spokesperson told CNBC that they were “sorry” for the “technical issue” that caused the duplicated payments.
“None of our clients were at any point left out of pocket as a result, and we will be working hard with many banks across the UK to recover the duplicated transactions over the coming days,” the spokesperson added.
Other reports suggest that the situation may have caused some payroll staff to feel disheartened.
In a report from BBC, one payroll manager, who was not identified, said that their “holiday period was ruined” after believing that they paid out the money in error.
“I thought it was just me and that I was going to get in trouble at work,” they said.
The payroll manager further told the outlet that Santander had not given them information on how they should explain this second payment to staff or how it should be paid back.
Santander has said that the process for retrieving those funds is known as the “bank error recovery process.”
It also said that the banks would look to recover the accidental payments from their customers’ accounts.
It’s not clear how the banks would respond if their customers have already spent the accidental deposits.
Indy100 reached out to Santander for comment.
