* Bank says 275,000 payments were affected
* Britons out of pocket ahead of holiday
* Problems affected payments through UK Bacs service
* Bank says majority of payments to be processed Friday (Adds further update from HSBC, comment from lawmaker)
By Matt Scuffham
LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Thousands of Britons failed toreceive their wages on Friday when a problem at Europe's biggestbank HSBC prevented some of its business customers frommaking payments.
The glitch affected payments made by the companies throughBritain's Bacs system, which processes electronic transactions.
"Approximately 275,000 payments have been affected,including payments to customers of other banks," HSBC said.
The bank later said the majority of transactions would becompleted over the course of Friday afternoon and early evening,with any remaining payments completed overnight.
Many Britons were scheduled to receive their monthly wageson Friday, with a large number planning getaways to make themost of the final public holiday in Britain before Christmas.Those affected by the glitch took to social media to vent theirfrustrations.
"Plans for the weekend out of the window. Thanks HSBC!,"said one.
Britain's retail banks have been hit by a number oftechnology failures causing inconvenience for hundreds ofthousands of customers.
State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland has been theworst affected and promised to invest hundreds of millions ofpounds in its computer systems after its latest glitch in June.
"This appears to be yet another serious IT failure by one ofthe major clearing banks," Conservative lawmaker Andrew Tyrie,who chairs parliament's Treasury Committee, said on Friday.
"It is increasingly clear that most, if not all, of thesebanks' IT payments systems need a good deal of investment, andthere is a lot to put right," he said.
HSBC said it would work with other banks to ensure customersdo not lose out as a result of the issue. (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Jan Lopatka and SusanFenton)