TD Bank Systems Now Seem To Be Working
May Be Some Time Before Full Reputational Damage is Known
TD Bankannounced yesterday that its IT banking systems were now working properly, and all customer accounts were now (finally) up-to-date.
TD Bank, after proclaiming victory several times prematurely last week, did qualify its announcement by stating that it was "cautiously optimistic" that everything was okay, but there were no guarantees.
Nothing like being positive.
The week-plus long problems have given the bank's rivals an opening to convince disgruntled customers to change banks. One rival bank, under the slogan, "It pays to switch," offered TD Bank customers $100 to open up a checking account. Another rival sent out promotional material saying, "Unlike other banks, you won't have a problem accessing your own money," at ours.
Ouch.
TD Bank, which calls itself "America's most convenient bank," will need to work hard to keep its customers from remembering their most inconvenient experiences over the past two weeks, and moving on to another bank.
Robert N. Charette is a Contributing Editor to IEEE Spectrum and an acknowledged international authority on information technology and systems risk management. A self-described “risk ecologist,” he is interested in the intersections of business, political, technological, and societal risks. Charette is an award-winning author of multiple books and numerous articles on the subjects of risk management, project and program management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, Charette was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core Award in 2008.