Hundreds of health workers had wage payments delayed yesterday due to the Bank of Bermuda system switch.

A Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) spokeswoman last night said that about 400 staff on the weekly payroll were affected. She said the problem was expected to be resolved by midnight.

A statement said: ?Our weekly payroll was delayed today due to the system change at Bank of Bermuda, which impacted all BHB employees who are paid weekly whichever local bank they use.

?We have been working with Bank of Bermuda to resolve the issue, and the bank was able to process the payroll for their accounts by midday.

?We expect the bank to have processed the rest of our payroll by midnight. Butterfield Bank have kindly agreed to honour our payroll and provide access to cash for staff who have accounts with them in the event of any further delay.?

The hospital employs about 1,400 staff.The Royal Gazette understands that other companies were affected by wage delays, although the scale of the problem was not known last night. Attempts to contact the bank for comment last night were not successful.

Earlier this week, Bank of Bermuda chief Philip Butterfield said the $30 million system upgrade had gone smoothly, apart for a few ?day one challenges?.

The bank, a member of HSBC group, is making its electronic system compatible with the global giant?s branches in 64 international locations.

Customers were given new bank account numbers and debit cards, as well as new PIN numbers for telephone banking. ATM machines were shut on a staggered basis last weekend.