A technical glitch led to duplicate payments affecting thousands of accounts, prompting a major recovery effort.

Santander Bank is working urgently to recover £130 million mistakenly paid to approximately 75,000 individuals and businesses due to a technical fault on Christmas Day. The duplicate payments, processed from the bank’s own reserves, were accidentally sent to recipients of regular and one-off transfers initiated by 2,000 of Santander’s corporate clients.

The error, first reported by The Times, resulted in additional payments including wages and supplier transactions being credited to accounts held at competing banks such as Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Virgin Money, and the Co-operative Bank.

Recovering the funds has proven challenging, as the money was sent to accounts outside Santander. While rival banks can assist in reversing the transactions, some have expressed concerns about customers being pushed into overdrafts if the funds are reclaimed.

Pay UK, which oversees the country’s primary payment systems, is coordinating with Santander and other banks to address the situation. Reports indicate that a portion of the funds has already been retrieved, but the recovery process may require direct communication with affected customers.

A Santander spokesperson apologised for the incident, explaining:
“We’re sorry that a technical issue led to some payments from our corporate clients being duplicated in recipients’ accounts. None of our clients were left out of pocket, and we’re actively working with banks across the UK to recover the duplicated transactions.”

Although the bank’s efforts to reclaim the funds are ongoing, the incident has raised questions about the robustness of payment systems and the potential financial strain on recipients.