HSBC has said its digital services are returning to normal after UK customers were left struggling to access mobile and online banking on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The bank said the disruption that had started just after 8am on Black Friday, which may also have been payday for some people, had stemmed from an issue with “our internal systems”.
A message posted by the bank on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday at 11pm said: “Online and Mobile Banking services are getting back up and running.
“Once again we’re really sorry, and understand this was deeply frustrating for many of our customers. We’ll continue to work behind the scenes to ensure a full recovery.”
The bank had posted regular updates online throughout the day, but some customers responded by posting their complaints on social media.
The late-night update brought calls for compensation from some customers.
One wrote: “Surely some form of compensation would be issued here? Some people have had a nightmare day. ‘Sorry for the inconvenience caused’ doesn’t help much.”
HSBC said that debit and credit cards had been working as normal during the disruption.
It happened as the Black Friday shopping bonanza, with retailers slashing their prices, got into full swing.
Some people may have wanted to access their banking to check how much money they had left to spend in the sales.
With November 24 being the last Friday of the month, it was also payday for some.
Earlier, one X user said in response to HSBC UK’s message: “Literally the worst timing ever. People got paid and have bills to pay.”
Another said: “Got to move some money so I can buy some Black Friday purchases (that I don’t need) Maybe it’s a sign!”
Sam Richardson, deputy editor of Which? Money, said: “We strongly advise customers that have been left out of pocket to keep evidence of extra expenses they may have incurred as a result of the outage, so they can be claimed back from HSBC.
“People want a bank they can depend on, and if IT outages become a regular occurrence, consumers could be tempted to vote with their feet and switch to an alternative provider – particularly with a lot of tempting switching incentives on offer at the moment.
“Having a back-up bank account or credit card can help, by giving consumers a way to make essential payments during outages like these.”
