UPDATE: 8 10 2022: 5:18 p.m.: After nearly five hours of suspended service, Cathay United Bank restored its systems at 3:55 p.m., CNA reported.
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An all-out Cathay United Bank service outage on Saturday morning (Oct. 8) has drawn complaints from consumers all across Taiwan.
Online forum PTT user Willie Liu shared a post at 11:02 a.m. asking if others, like him, could not access the Cathay United Bank mobile app. Netizens flooded the comment section, reporting that they have been denied credit card and mobile payment transactions, as well as ATM access.
User jinmin88 wrote, “The Costco cashier is all backed up right now, I am speechless.” Another user, lafk responded, “It sucks, thankfully I brought cash, it’s horrible.”
ETtoday reported that aside from Costco, shoppers at PX Mart suffered the same fate.
In response to the incident, Cathay United Bank posted a notice on its website, which read: “On Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, the bank’s services including the website/online banking (including via the app)/KOKO/ATM/credit card transactions were interrupted due to a power system maintenance at the bank’s information building. The bank is doing all it can to fix the issue and will immediately restore the services once the system is restored.”
The bank added, “We deeply apologize for causing any inconveniences.”
According to ETtoday, there have been several ATM and online banking service outage incidents since Cathay United Bank upgraded its systems in October 2021. Earlier this year, the Financial Supervisory Commission issued a NT$2 million (US$63,000) fine as well as penalties against the bank’s executives.
However, angry netizens did not believe the fine and penalties have done anything to change the bank’s attitude in providing services. PTT user groundhog328 wrote, “The Financial Supervisory Commission can’t do anything about it anyway, just watch (the bank) continue to loaf around.”
Costumers using the Costco credit card are unable to make purchases as the card's issuer, Cathay United Bank, experiences service outage. (CNA photo)
