Halifax stalls launch of online banking

The Halifax's troubled subsidiary Intelligent Finance (IF) has finally managed to launch its telephone banking operation - but is still reluctant to give a date for the launch of its internet services.

The original launch of IF on 14 July was pulled at the last minute when it was found that the system could not cope when load-tested by 500 call centre staff. IF then said it would be able to launch by the end of August.

Last week, IF unveiled its phone banking service, but said it will not be able to give any date this year for the start of the online service, despite claiming last month this would follow "up to a fortnight" after the phone launch.

"The internet service will follow in a few months' time, but what we have done is build in slack. We have no way of knowing how many telephone calls we are going to get. We have had about 3,500 since we opened today, though there has been no advertising. When we put our advertising out, we just don't know what is going to hit us," said Heather Scott, spokeswoman for IF.

According to IF's own estimates, the combined system will need to be able to handle at least 15,000 customers a day. The bank said the phone service launch went without any problems, with more than 2,300 accounts opened in the first few hours. IF has 1,400 staff located at two offices in Scotland.

• Lloyds TSB said this week it will begin trials of its internet bank, Evolvebank, later this month in Spain. The trial will test the service on a group of select customers before it is rolled out to the Spanish general public. Evolvebank will then be brought to the UK for customer testing. Lloyds TSB was unable to confirm how long this would take.

"It will be staged, so all the products and services won't be immediately available. We are taking it cautiously so we can ensure it will be up and running properly," said a Lloyds TSB spokeswoman.

The bank said it is aiming for 15,000 customers by the end of the year, rising to 300,000 by the end of 2001.