First National Bank (FNB) has apologised for an interruption of its electronic services that left customers high and dry during peak evening shopping hours yesterday.
From about 5pm yesterday, a number of FNB customers reported being left red-faced and cashless when they were unable to pay for items - either via EMV purchase or by drawing cash.
One FNB client tweeted: “I'm having issues with #FNB !!! It's offline! Can't draw money! Can't pay for food! This is bloody embarrassing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (sic)
Another, also via Twitter, said: “I don't remember a day that Standard Bank was offline and had me stranded in a mall....ever! So screw this right here------->FNB.” (sic) Highlighting the inopportune nature of the systems failure, another said: “@MichaelJordaan Fnb card offline this time of the month, not good.”
According to FNB CIO Raj Makanjee, the interruption of services was brief - lasting just over half an hour, from about 5pm to 5:40pm. “Transactional abilities across FNB channels (ATMs, points of sale, mobile banking, FNB App) were sporadically interrupted for approximately 40 minutes and were then fully restored.”
Makanjee says, before 6pm, the root cause of the problem had been identified and corrected. “FNB customers were able to transact fully from 17h45 onwards.”
While frustrated customers took to Twitter to micro-blog their dissatisfaction, FNB's “social media guy” RB Jacobs stayed active on the platform, keeping customers updated, responding to their queries and apologising for the inconvenience.
Makanjee this morning said the bank is putting measures in place to prevent a recurrence of yesterday's service delays. “FNB apologises for the inconvenience suffered by customers during this period.”
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