On Monday, National Australia Bank (NAB) experienced a widespread internet banking outage that left customers across the country unable to access their accounts.

Starting from 1pm AEST, more than 1,000 NAB customers reported issues with internet banking on DownDetector, an outage tracking website. The problem affected users nationwide, leading to widespread frustration and inconvenience.

A NAB spokeswoman acknowledged the disruption: “We’re aware of an issue currently impacting some of our services, including internet banking, mobile, and desktop. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this is causing. Our tech team is investigating and working to fix this as soon as possible. We are keeping our customers updated via banners in our digital banking channels and on social media.”

The outage was resolved by 10pm on Monday, with NAB confirming that all services were back to normal. However, the bank has yet to provide further details about the cause of the outage and measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

This incident comes about a month after NAB’s competitor, ANZ, experienced an hours-long system outage. ANZ later attributed the disruption to an unnamed third-party vendor. Additionally, approximately six months ago, a mass Optus network outage lasted 13 hours, affecting over 10 million people and 400,000 businesses across Australia.

These disruptions highlight the critical need for reliable internet banking services, as they can significantly impact customers, especially businesses relying on timely transactions. Financial institutions like NAB must ensure robust systems and quick response mechanisms to maintain customer trust and service reliability.