Overview of the Outage
On Friday, 19 July 2024, Capitec Bank experienced a significant outage that impacted all customer-facing services. This disruption was traced back to an issue with the cloud cybersecurity platform, Crowdstrike.
Details of the Service Disruption
Capitec outage reports began surfacing around 07:00, as indicated by Downdetector. The issues were predominantly related to mobile banking, online banking, and ATM services. Customers took to X/Twitter to voice their frustrations about declined transactions, non-functional ATMs, and an inaccessible mobile banking app.
One user reported, “I’m stuck at a filling station because payments are declining. Now I have to wait or leave my phone.” Another added, “What’s wrong with your app? I can’t cash send or pay a beneficiary. Now the app says ‘no Internet connection’ and won’t open. It’s very frustrating.”
Additionally, users trying to access their accounts through the iOS mobile banking app encountered an error message stating, “Unable to process your selection, try again later.”
Bank’s Response
Capitec’s support team acknowledged the issue, noting that it was a nationwide problem affecting all services. “We are working diligently to resolve this issue. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and apologize for any inconvenience caused,” the bank stated.
Some customers received an SMS from Capitec informing them of the situation.
Capitec’s previous major outage occurred in August 2022, lasting several days due to an infrastructure problem with its central servers.
Resolution and Service Restoration
By 10:00 on the same day, Capitec confirmed that card payments, ATM services, and digital channels had been restored. The bank reassured customers, stating, “Client service remains our top priority, and we deeply regret the severe impact this disruption has had on your banking experience.”
Capitec further assured its clients, “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience during this challenging time. Importantly, we want to reassure our clients that their bank accounts and personal data remain secure and unaffected by this incident.”
