4 ms·

British bank shuts website until April 2012

35 points by sunsai 16y ago

tomjen3 16y ago
This is what happens when you bail out companies: you end up with a bunch of dynosaurs stumbling like the savages they are.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  "Dynosaurs" would be fine, that would imply dynamism, or the ability to change. Unfortunately what we actually have are "Dinosaurs" where "dino" means "terrible".
  - phlux 16y ago
    Maybe Dynasaurs means "To change over the course of Eons"
- mikealeo 16y ago
  Scottish banks were bailed out? I'm not sure if you think this is an American bank, or I just don't know enough about Scotland's economics.
  - JonnieCache 16y ago
    Scotland is part of the united kingdom. The royal bank of scotland is a UK bank and it was bailed out by the UK government. The UK is a country comprised of four countries. Don't worry, the people that live here don't understand it either. Great Britain is simply a geographical term applied to the actual archipelago itself. The economic relationship between scotland and the rest of the country, particularly the government in london is a vexed question that is seen as being badly in need of a solution, but it has been pushed aside in the current economic situation. It's basically down to the fact that while scotland has partial legislative autonomy, it is unable to raise its own tax revenues independently, but it is much deeper and more complicated than this. See https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/West_Lothian_Question https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/West_Lothian_...
    - semanticist 16y ago
      While that's all true, RBS isn't the bank in question. Also, both RBS and Lloyds Banking Group (who bought/'merged with' HBOS, which was the result of the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and it's Halifax's online banking the story is about) do have special Scottish-only rights, like printing banknotes.
  - wewyor 16y ago
    Yes, and the bank doing the website renovations (HBOS) is one of the ones that was bailed out.
- jrockway 16y ago
  To be fair, there are a few more regulations on how a bank's website works compared to your average node.js mashup. This affects the timeline and usability.
melvinram 16y ago
Everyone's thinking it so I'll say it: WTF?! If Wells Fargo turned off online banking for 1 month, I'd switch banks. I wonder if they are handling everything in-house or have hired external consultants/company to build out this wonderful new site & mobile app that will take a full year. Now if their current system had a major exploit and the only way to fix it is to rewrite the whole thing, I guess they have no choice. At the very least they should have put together a temporary "read only" type of site that involve less/no risk on their part and provide their call centers a bit of relief. Ballsy move (and not in a good way.)
nudge 16y ago
Just to clarify, it's not entirely down. It's just investments. I use this bank for checking and credit card and they're both fine.
- kapitalx 16y ago
  Sure, but the point continues to stand. Why not continue to provide the current site until the new one is complete and then do a switch. Unless, as melvinram mentioned, somehow there is some costly exploit that cannot be fixed unless everything is redone and its dangerous to keep the site up until its rewritten.
bittermang 16y ago
Frankly, if their intentions are to build a site which is more secure, and there was a gaping security flaw with the existing site, then it is good news that it won't be available for a year.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
flyt 16y ago
Palo Alto's utility company did the same thing while they rebuilt their bill pay site. Really frustrating as a user, especially for a city at the heart of the Valley.

35 points by sunsai 16y ago

This is what happens when you bail out companies: you end up with a bunch of dynosaurs stumbling like the savages they are.

JonnieCache 16y ago
"Dynosaurs" would be fine, that would imply dynamism, or the ability to change. Unfortunately what we actually have are "Dinosaurs" where "dino" means "terrible".
- phlux 16y ago
  Maybe Dynasaurs means "To change over the course of Eons"
mikealeo 16y ago
Scottish banks were bailed out? I'm not sure if you think this is an American bank, or I just don't know enough about Scotland's economics.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  Scotland is part of the united kingdom. The royal bank of scotland is a UK bank and it was bailed out by the UK government. The UK is a country comprised of four countries. Don't worry, the people that live here don't understand it either. Great Britain is simply a geographical term applied to the actual archipelago itself. The economic relationship between scotland and the rest of the country, particularly the government in london is a vexed question that is seen as being badly in need of a solution, but it has been pushed aside in the current economic situation. It's basically down to the fact that while scotland has partial legislative autonomy, it is unable to raise its own tax revenues independently, but it is much deeper and more complicated than this. See https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/West_Lothian_Question https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/West_Lothian_...
  - semanticist 16y ago
    While that's all true, RBS isn't the bank in question. Also, both RBS and Lloyds Banking Group (who bought/'merged with' HBOS, which was the result of the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and it's Halifax's online banking the story is about) do have special Scottish-only rights, like printing banknotes.
- wewyor 16y ago
  Yes, and the bank doing the website renovations (HBOS) is one of the ones that was bailed out.
jrockway 16y ago
To be fair, there are a few more regulations on how a bank's website works compared to your average node.js mashup. This affects the timeline and usability.

melvinram 16y ago

Everyone's thinking it so I'll say it: WTF?! If Wells Fargo turned off online banking for 1 month, I'd switch banks. I wonder if they are handling everything in-house or have hired external consultants/company to build out this wonderful new site & mobile app that will take a full year. Now if their current system had a major exploit and the only way to fix it is to rewrite the whole thing, I guess they have no choice. At the very least they should have put together a temporary "read only" type of site that involve less/no risk on their part and provide their call centers a bit of relief. Ballsy move (and not in a good way.)

nudge 16y ago

Just to clarify, it's not entirely down. It's just investments. I use this bank for checking and credit card and they're both fine.

kapitalx 16y ago
Sure, but the point continues to stand. Why not continue to provide the current site until the new one is complete and then do a switch. Unless, as melvinram mentioned, somehow there is some costly exploit that cannot be fixed unless everything is redone and its dangerous to keep the site up until its rewritten.

bittermang 16y ago

Frankly, if their intentions are to build a site which is more secure, and there was a gaping security flaw with the existing site, then it is good news that it won't be available for a year.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

flyt 16y ago

Palo Alto's utility company did the same thing while they rebuilt their bill pay site. Really frustrating as a user, especially for a city at the heart of the Valley.