Some Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank services remained suspended on Friday amid what it described as “essential system maintenance”.
In a statement posted on the bank’s website, it said it was extending working hours at some branches to help customers who need assistance.
ADCB – which on Wednesday informed customers through social media and on its website that all of its banking services were unavailable – on Friday notified clients that maintenance work “may intermittently impact some of our banking services”.
It did not say what type of maintenance work was being carried out or when it expects to fully restore operations.
"Our teams are working to restore full service as quickly as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding," said ADCB, the UAE’s third-largest lender by assets.
It advised customers to access the bank's branches and ATMs, which "remain open during this period".
Services that are available to customers on Friday include:
- In-branch banking services at operating locations, with extended hours
- ATM access for cash withdrawals and other standard transactions
- Call centre support for account enquiries and general assistance
- uBank centres
ADCB has extended work hours at four branches in Abu Dhabi city, four in Al Dhafra, three each in Al Ain and Dubai, a branch each in Fujairah and Ajman, as well as two in Sharjah. These branches are scheduled to operate from 8am to 5pm from Saturday to Thursday, while on Friday they will operate from 7.30am to 12.30pm.
Some customers suggested the new ADCB app may have caused the service disruption. The lender has not explained the cause.
Lenders in the UAE are spending a major chunk of their annual capital expenditure on improving their digital infrastructure in a bid to improve cyber security and introduce digital features to improve their services.
But the growing reliance on digital and cloud infrastructure is not without its drawbacks. In March, ADCB's digital banking services were disrupted owing to a region-wide IT breakdown during the initial phase of the Iran war. The issues with digital infrastructure affected several lenders in the UAE and it took ADCB 48 hours to restore its retail mobile banking services.
The disruption at the time affected its online banking, as well as its customer contact centre operations. But it said on March 4 that “at no point during the disruption were customer data, accounts or the security of the bank’s systems compromised”.
