MANILA: The global Microsoft outage has paralySed several industries using its software, with some Philippine banks confirming their systems are also affected.
In separate advisories on Friday (July 19) afternoon, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co (Metrobank) and Union Bank of the Philippines said they were trying to fully restore their services.
According to BPI, “certain operations” in its branches were hit by the Microsoft outage, causing “longer wait times.”
“You may also experience delays in crediting of financial transactions, including bills payment and interbank fund transfers, as other institutions are likewise affected,” the Ayala-led bank said.
BPI also clarified, however, that its ATMs, cash acceptance machines, online and mobile banking services were still available.
Meanwhile, Aboitiz-led UnionBank said its customer service hotline and online credit card transactions were “temporarily unavailable.”
”In the meantime, please use the UnionBank Online app or website, or any of our ATMs nationwide, for continued access to your accounts and essential banking services,” it said.
Metrobank also advised its customers of a possible “slowdown” in its services, particularly for online transactions.
BDO Unibank Inc. also confirmed it was experiencing technical difficulties, resulting in longer wait times at its branches and delays in its digital channels.
“Our team is diligently working with Microsoft to resolve this issue,” the Sy family-led bank said in an advisory to its clients.
In its customer advisory, Philippine National Bank assured their clients that their technical team is on standby to ensure affected channels are back to normal once the outage is fixed.
However, in a statement sent to the Inquirer, Security Bank Corp. said it was “not vulnerable” to the ongoing outage, as it did not use CrowdStrike’s software. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
