Australia’s big four bank Westpac experienced a disruption to mobile and online banking services overnight.
Customers were unable to access mobile and online banking services with Westpac for hours after a technical problem.
A routine technology update at 9 p.m. impacted customers, with technicians working overnight before services were restored just before 5 a.m. on Dec. 5.
In a post to X at 9.19 p.m. on Dec. 4, Westpac Bank posted, “We’re aware that customers are currently experiencing issues accessing account information in online and mobile banking. Our teams are working to fix the issue.”
Then at 10.40 p.m., the major bank updated customers that “online and mobile banking remains unavailable,” with teams continuing to work on restoring services.
Just before midnight, at 11.48 p.m., the bank again notified user that services remained down following a “routine technology update” earlier in the evening.
At 5.17 a.m. on Dec. 5, Westpac advised mobile and banking services were restored and running as usual.
“We want to apologise to all our customers who were impacted by the issue overnight. We recognise this took too long to resolve and we thank customers for their patience,” the bank said.
“Westpac’s mobile and online banking services were restored shortly before 5 a.m. this morning. We recognise this caused disruption for our customers and apologise for the experience. We know how important it is to have 24/7 access to online banking,” Mr. Collary said.
“The issue was caused by a routine technology update at around 9 p.m. on Monday which meant customers were unable to view or access their Westpac accounts online.”
Mr. Collary noted the technology teams at Westpac had been working all night and ATM withdrawals and payments were not impacted.
“Our technicians identified the problem and worked through the night to fix it. Payments via cards and digital wallets, scheduled payments and ATMs were not affected by the issue,” he said.
“If customers have specific concerns as a result of this issue we encourage them to contact us for assistance.”
Westpac shares are currently trading at $23.32 (US$15.41) and are down 0.33 percent on yesterday’s market close.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) board is meeting to decide on interest rates today and a decision is due to be released at 2.30 p.m. on Dec. 5.
