Tesco Bank hack: How to handle a crisis

The botched handling of a crisis can sink any leadership team or, even worse, any business.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal last year cost the then-CEO Martin Winterkorn his job, with staff ominously warned afterwards to “prepare for pain”; Winterkorn’s successor, Matthias Mueller, considered cutting Board bonuses as a result.

Yesterday Tesco Bank temporarily suspended all online transactions following the hacking of at least 20,000 bank accounts over the weekend – Sky News reports.  

The bank’s CEO, Benny Higgins, confirmed the following day that “online criminal activity" had taken place, with some balances falling victim to theft too.