The Daily Star Ireland
PTSB bank announced it has mostly resolved a technical problem that caused delays in sending and receiving payments for many of its customers. The bank had been struggling for hours to fix the issue, which prevented customers from receiving payments such as wages and pensions, and also from making payments, potentially affecting the processing of direct debits and standing orders.
Despite the progress, the PTSB mobile app remains non-functional, although the bank’s Open 24 desktop service is still operational. The timing of the outage is particularly problematic, occurring on the last Friday of the month, which is payday for many, and coinciding with Black Friday, a major shopping day.
In a statement, PTSB confirmed it had resolved the payment issues for most customers and is working to fix the remaining problems as a priority. The delays were caused by a technical issue with a third-party payments provider, affecting several banks across Europe.
The bank reassured customers that they would not suffer any financial loss due to this issue and that any fees incurred from missed direct debits or standing orders would be covered by the bank. PTSB advised customers still experiencing difficulties with the mobile app to use the desktop website open24.ie and apologized for the inconvenience, promising to resolve the app access issues as soon as possible.
The payment disruption lasted over 12 hours for some customers, affecting the visibility of deposits from employers and pension providers in their accounts. This situation has been particularly frustrating for those wanting to take advantage of Black Friday deals or begin their Christmas shopping.
It is reported that PTSB is among at least 10 banks in Europe affected by the third-party provider issue. IT outages are a frequent source of frustration for customers of Irish banks, and today’s incident was heavily criticized on social media by PTSB customers. Some pensioners expressed their distress at being left without money due to the delay.
One customer described the situation as disastrous, noting its impact on the last major payday before Christmas and Black Friday. Earlier this month, PTSB acknowledged another technical issue that intermittently affected their mobile app and desktop services, which was subsequently resolved.
The Central Bank of Ireland, which oversees banks in the country, stated it is aware of PTSB’s technical issues and is in contact with the bank to ensure efforts are being made to resolve the problems for customers. The regulator advised customers with concerns to contact PTSB directly.
