HSBC's electronic banking services were paralysed across Hong Kong for nearly half an hour yesterday afternoon. And last night the financial giant still had no idea why.
Customers were stopped from drawing money at hundreds of ATM machines and paying with their cards at thousands of retailers. Its phone banking and Internet banking services also temporarily failed.
Hang Seng Bank, which shares the same transaction system as HSBC, reported similar problems.
HSBC spokeswoman Vinh Tran said the bank's system broke down at 3.30pm but started running again 24 minutes later. Credit card services were not affected.
But more than an hour after the system was reported to have been fixed, transaction problems were still being experienced at individual retailers. One customer who was trying to pay by EPS with a Hang Seng card at a ParknShop in Discovery Bay at 5.20pm was told by staff that the system was still down.
Long queues had formed inside the supermarket and a sign was posted at each checkout saying 'No ATM.'