Lloyds has paid out £139,000 to thousands of customers following a huge app glitch which allowed the bank’s users to see other people’s transactions and accounts.

The issue, which also affected Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers, which are part of the Lloyds Banking Group, hit nearly half a million customers.

The firm said 447,936 Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers were able to see other people’s transactions or had their data shared with others due to the IT issues on March 12.

The bank confirmed 114,182 people clicked on other people’s transactions when they became visible.

It added they therefore may have been shown more detailed information such as account details, National Insurance numbers and payment references.

It said no customers have so far been identified as suffering financial losses as a result.

Jasjyot Singh, consumer relations boss at Lloyds, apologised for the incident on behalf of the bank in a letter disclosing the scope of the issue to Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee.

The bank has so far paid out £139,000 in compensation to 3,625 customers for distress and inconvenience linked to the incident, which is an average of £38.34 per customer.

Lloyds said the incident was caused by a “software defect” from an overnight IT update.

Chair of the Treasury Committee, Dame Meg Hillier, said: “Modern banking methods mean we can now perform a variety of tasks on our phones in a matter of seconds, and almost anywhere.

“What this incident brings into focus is the fact that there is a trade-off.

“By moving more interactions with our bank online, we place our faith in technology which can suffer unpredictable errors.”

The letter highlighted that personal data of individuals who were not Lloyds group customers had also been visible.

A Lloyds spokesman said: “On March 12, some customers using our app may have briefly seen transactions that were not their own following an IT change.

“The issue was quickly identified and resolved, and we’ve contacted customers whose transactions may have been visible for that short time.”