RBS says debit cards working normally after glitches for customers in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) said its debit cards are now working normally after customers experienced problems across Britain earlier on Friday, in the latest apparent glitch to hit the bank's IT systems.

Some customers using the group's RBS, Natwest and Ulster Bank brands in Britain and Northern Ireland had been unable to make pound sterling-denominated transactions.

"Our debit cards are now working as normal," a spokeswoman for the bank said. "90 percent of debit card transactions were processing normally during this period and our ATM network and credit card transactions were unaffected."

Banks are increasingly sensitive to the brand damage caused by IT failings, perceiving customers to care just as deeply about security and stable service as loan or deposit rates.

RBS has been hit by a number of IT failings and glitches in recent years.

In December 2013 RBS and its retail banking unit Natwest's online systems and debit cards failed as customers were unable to process payments on so-called Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days.

Millions of customers across the United Kingdom were unable to withdraw cash, pay for goods or use telephone and online banking services.

In June last year RBS said a computer systems failure led to 600,000 payments not being processed, leaving thousands of customers waiting for payments such as wages and benefits.

RBS said it resolved that issue and no customers were left out of pocket.

The bank's former Chief Executive Stephen Hester waived his bonus in 2012 over a failed software update which caused chaos for thousands of bank customers.

(Reporting by Lawrence White; editing by Susan Thomas)