BSN’s entire banking system has been down for over 24 hours

BSN account holders nationwide are unable to make any form of transaction with the bank online or over the counter for over 24 hours as the bank’s entire banking system is inoperative.

The issue has caused services at BSN branches, ATMs, CDMs, MEPS, MyBSN and BSN Bank Agents BSN (EB BSN) to be unavailable since late Friday evening. However, credit cards issued by the bank can be used as normal.

At the time of reporting, the situation has not improved, and no form of banking transaction (except for credit card transactions) can be done via BSN.

Chief Executive Datuk Yunos Abd Ghani said in a statement to Harian Metro today, the bank is looking into the matter and is working to have its systems up and running as soon as possible.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers and will update on developments from time to time,” he said.

What is very concerning for me is the lack of information provided by the bank. A quick scan on BSN’s official Facebook page reveals very little information about the situation. I don’t have a BSN account but I’m sure those who do will have a lot of questions about this. Questions like:

• What is the problem?
• Is it a security issue?
• Is my money safe?
• Is it a security issue?
• Is my data safe?
• How long until the problem resolved?
• Would I be compensated for this?
• Would businesses that are impacted by this be compensated?
• What will BSN do to prevent this from happening again in the future?

The lack of information indicates to me the even the people at BSN don’t have the full picture here and for a bank to have its entire banking system down for over 24 hours is very, very concerning.

Having said that, the bank is not all bad. In December, BSN in line with its corporate responsibility helped settled the balance a car loan took out by the late fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim. Adib had taken the car loan with BSN.