Online and phone banking services of some banks in the UAE were unavailable on Monday owing to a regionwide disruption of IT services.
Customers in the UAE were not able to access phone banking services for Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic as well as the digital banking services of First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
It was not clear whether the issues were related to a fire at an Amazon Web Services data centre in the UAE, which happened on the same day Iran attempted to strike key sites in the country.
"Due to intermittent disruptions, our phone banking and WhatsApp banking service may experience temporary delays," a spokesperson of the Emirates NBD said in a statement to The National. "Our teams are actively working to ensure a smooth experience and are addressing the situation as quickly as possible.”
The notice on the FAB digital app said the bank was experiencing “intermittent service disruption” and was working to resolve the issue.
The digital app of ADCB was also not available to customers.
An ADCB spokesperson said that "due to a region-wide IT disruption, ADCB is currently experiencing a temporary service interruption of its mobile banking application and contact centre".
"Customers may continue to access services through ADCB Internet Banking (ADCB.com), branches, UBank ATMs, and ADCB WhatsApp Banking."
Both international and domestic transfers remain fully available through ADCB’s internet banking platform, with domestic transfers also available via the Aani app by Al Etihad Payments, the ADCB spokesperson said.
The National has reached out to FAB for further comments.
