HSBC investigates card and website problems

HSBC is investigating technical problems that prevented customers from accessing its online banking service and withdrawing money from some ATMs and branches. The bank said it had identified a problem at 2.45pm this afternoon and was working to resolve the issue. At 4.45pm it said ATMs should be working again by 5pm, and customers started to report they could access their online accounts. A spokesman said online banking services had been affected, along with some of its 3,700 ATMs and some services within branches. First Direct customers were also affected. However, conversations on social networking sites suggest the problem also extended to card payments. Customers posting on Twitter reported having their cards refused in shops, petrol stations and restaurants, as well as not being able to see their balances or withdraw cash at the bank's ATMs. Callers to the bank's telephone banking service were being played a message telling them it was currently unavailable and redirecting them to its business banking service. One customer tweeted : "I went into the HSBC bank and they said 'sorry we are not working, HSBC has gone down all over the nation', some kinda nonsense." She had been into the Hackney branch of the bank. Another wrote : "#hsbc down, can't draw money out or pay at tills. Includes #firstdirect". A spokeswoman for First Direct said she believed the payment problems were a result of technical problems with one server, and that they were now resolved. The Twitter feed for HSBC's press office, @hsbc_uk_press, which kept customers updated throughout the afternoon, posted: "Card terminals and internet banking should now be back on. Sorry, and thanks again for bearing with us."