Posted: 2019-07-11 06:12:51

***Updated***

All four major banks have confirmed “sporadic outages” of services including ATM and Eftpos access across the country, with fingers increasingly being pointed at the country’s largest telco Telstra.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirmed at 3:28pm that it is currently experiencing an “issue affecting some of [its] services” though it did not name specific services affected. Business Insider Australia has contacted the bank for more information.

A CBA spokesperson subsequently told Business Insider Australia that there are problems with “the following services: CBA ATMs, CBA EFTPOS terminals, some in branch services as well as issues logging onto the CommSec website”. The spokesperson stressed that the CommBank app and internet banking are unaffected by the problem.

The spokesperson also said the cause of the problem is not internal but due to “one of [its] telecommunication providers”. She added that the bank’s call-centre is experiencing a “higher than normal” call volume and said there is no need for retail or business customers to call the bank.

“The cause of the problem is under urgent investigation,” she said.

A Westpac spokesperson told Business Insider Australia that the bank is also facing outages of its ATM and Eftpos services, saying the issue is known to be affecting the Sydney metropolitan area, particularly the central business district.

However, peer-to-peer website Down Detector is detailing reports of outages across Australia.

An ANZ spokesperson has confirmed it is also experiencing outages, suggesting the problem might be “telco-related”, while a NAB spokesperson confirmed “sporadic outages” relating to Eftpos but not ATM services in New South Wales and Queensland.

A subsequent tweet from ANZ’s official handle at 4:31pm clarified that the issue is “wide-spread”.

Australia Post has also confirmed that Eftpos and other banking services are currently disrupted, blaming a “supplier issue”.

Greg McKenna, chair of the Police Bank and a Business Insider Australia contributor, has speculated that a Telstra outage might be an underlying cause of the disruption.

Telstra took to Twitter at 4:19pm to confirm the problem and apologise to affected customers but has not provided further information.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has also indicated that Telstra is the culprit. In a written statement to Business Insider Australia, a Woolworths spokesperson said its electronic systems are affected but that its stores are still trading.

“Our stores are continuing to trade as our teams are still able to process payments manually at this time,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re working closely with Telstra to rectify the network issue as quickly as possible.”

This story is developing.

Business Insider Emails & Alerts

Site highlights each day to your inbox.

Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

View More
  • 0 Comment(s)
Captcha Challenge
Reload Image
Type in the verification code above