UK regulators have imposed an £81,000 fine on a former TSB information officer over the bank's IT meltdown in 2018 that left millions of customers locked out of their accounts.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said Carlos Abarca, who was TSB's chief information officer at the time of the meltdown, failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that an outsourcing firm owned by TSB's parent company was ready to carry out the IT migration of customers en masse, The Guardian reported.

The fine against Abarca comes months after the bank itself was fined £48m in December for "widespread and serious" failings surrounding the debacle, which arose during its separation from its former parent company, Lloyds Banking Group, which has a major base in Barnwood, Gloucester.

Abarca is the only TSB executive so far to be held personally accountable by regulators for the IT migration failure.

The Bank of England declined to comment to The Guardian when asked whether any investigations into other bosses were taking place. It could leave the door open for further fines against directors and executives who were working at TSB at the time of the meltdown.

Paul Pester was forced to resign as TSB's chief executive within months of the incident, after intense criticism from regulators and MPs.

The fine for Abarca is one of the few issued under the UK regulatory senior managers' regime, which aims to hold bosses personally accountable when things go wrong.

The PRA reduced Abarca's fine by 30% after he agreed to settle the matter. The fine would have otherwise been £116,600.