An IT failure at HSBC has led to 275,000 payments not being processed by the bank’s BACS system.
The problem has meant that businesses using HSBC business accounts to make payments have been unable to transfer funds.
As a result, thousands of payments have not been made, including to customers of other banks, leading to many people not receiving their salary ahead of the August bank holiday. Other payments by businesses, such as for goods or to suppliers, have also not gone through.
"There has been a fault in the information used to process some payments from HSBC business customers,” said an HSBC spokesman.
"Approximately 275,000 payments have been affected, including payments to customers of other banks.”
The bank is attempting to work with other banks to ensure customers will not be left out of pocket because of the IT glitch.
The bank’s Twitter account said it would be issuing further updates, and that the bank is looking into alternative ways to ensure customers receive their funds by the end of the day.
"HSBC apologises for the inconvenience this has caused," the spokesman said. "We are taking immediate steps to ensure payments reach beneficiaries as quickly as possible. We will work with other banks to ensure customers do not lose out as a result of today’s problems."
Customers affected took to Twitter with the hashtag #HSBCfail to air their grievances.
This is not the first slip-up for HSBC this year after the bank discovered in April that data concerning some of its mortgage customers had inadvertently been made available online. Details such as customer names, account numbers and social security numbers could be accessed.
Read more about banking IT
- UK consumers want to use biometric authentication security for banking and are willing to share DNA data with institutions for identification purposes.
- The number of people using mobile and online banking will increase dramatically over the next five years, with major technology implications for banks.
In the same month, HSBC customers in Hong Kong found themselves directed to a porn website by an out-of-date link on the bank's community projects webpage.
