Computer systems problems no cause for concern
(4 June 2012 – New Zealand) A spate of computer system problems that have hit banks recently does not worry Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) or the Banking Ombudsman Debra Battell.
Kiwibank, the latest to experience problems, was unable to process transactions for several hours last Wednesday.
The bank’s spokesman Bruce Thompson, said internet and phone banking was not fully restored until Thursday morning.
The problem resulted from work designed to speed up its storage systems, he said. There had been no external attack on the bank, though scammers were quick to try to take advantage yesterday, sending out phishing emails designed to dupe customers who had been affected into disclosing their logons and passwords, he said.
In April a computer failure at Westpac caused by a 'database locking up' delayed the payment of salaries to thousands of people, including many public servants.
Later that month, the night before Anzac Day, the Swift interbank payment system failed because of a 'faulty cable' affecting payments between all banks.
ASB Bank said last week the overnight processing of payments to some of its customers was delayed due to a 'technical issue'.
RBNZ spokesman Mike Hannah said it had 'no concerns at the moment'.
Battell said she had received a few complaints about the Kiwibank outage and there was no doubt people could be inconvenienced, but 'the events haven't caused me to be concerned about the integrity or reliability of the banking system.'
The bank’s spokesman Bruce Thompson, said internet and phone banking was not fully restored until Thursday morning.
The problem resulted from work designed to speed up its storage systems, he said. There had been no external attack on the bank, though scammers were quick to try to take advantage yesterday, sending out phishing emails designed to dupe customers who had been affected into disclosing their logons and passwords, he said.
In April a computer failure at Westpac caused by a 'database locking up' delayed the payment of salaries to thousands of people, including many public servants.
Later that month, the night before Anzac Day, the Swift interbank payment system failed because of a 'faulty cable' affecting payments between all banks.
ASB Bank said last week the overnight processing of payments to some of its customers was delayed due to a 'technical issue'.
RBNZ spokesman Mike Hannah said it had 'no concerns at the moment'.
Battell said she had received a few complaints about the Kiwibank outage and there was no doubt people could be inconvenienced, but 'the events haven't caused me to be concerned about the integrity or reliability of the banking system.'
Subscribe