Royal Bank today announced a new claims system to deal with costs and losses resulting from a computer problem that obscured transactions for several days in early June.

The bank said it has hired Crawford Adjusters Canada to act as claims administrator for non-banking related costs and losses related to the bank’s processing disruption of May 31 to June 4.

“With the processing disruption behind us, our primary objective now is to make it right for those who were directly impacted,” Gordon Nixon, CEO of RBC Financial Group, said in a news release.

“I want to thank those who were inconvenienced for their patience and understanding, and once again offer them my sincere apology.”

Clients of RBC or other financial institutions can obtain a claim form from any Royal Bank branch or business centre or by calling 1-800-769-2511. Forms can also be downloaded from on the Internet.

Customers with claims up to $100 can present their completed forms to any Royal branch for processing. Those with claims of more than $100, and clients of other financial institutions for all claim amounts, are to mail their forms to the claims administrator.

In a separate release the bank announced plans to buyback up to 25 million common shares through the Toronto Stock Exchange. The share purchase cost as much as $1.5 billion.

The shares represent about 3.8 per cent of the bank’s common shares.

“The purchase of common shares under the normal-course issuer bid will enable the bank to balance the imperatives of maintaining strong capital ratios with the ongoing need to generate shareholder value,” the bank said Friday in a release.

The buyback may begin next Thursday and continue for one year, with the amount and timing of any purchases to be determined by the bank.

As of June 16, the bank had bought back 13.7 million shares at an average price of $60.62, for a total of $830 million, under the bank’s previous issuer bid — which also had a cap of 25 million shares when announced a year ago.