HSBC faces banking outage amid growing concerns in the industry

On February 11, 2025, HSBC's online banking services faced significant disruptions, marking another incident in a series of outages affecting major banks in the UK. Customers reported difficulties logging into their accounts via both the bank's website and mobile application around 3:20pm, leading to a spike in complaints across social media platforms. While users struggled to access their accounts, the bank reassured customers that debit and credit cards, digital wallets, and ATMs remained operational as usual. The service issues were promptly reported to Downdetector, which noted over 1,700 reports detailing user difficulties. The recent outage at HSBC follows a concerning trend within the banking sector, with other notable institutions, including Barclays, Lloyds, and Halifax, experiencing outages in recent weeks. This pattern of intermittent technical failures has raised questions among regulators and the public regarding the robustness of banks' IT infrastructures. In particular, a two-day service disruption experienced by Barclays earlier this month stirred up significant media coverage and prompted a group of MPs to inquire about compensation for affected customers, as well as the extent of these ongoing IT issues. In response to the recent problems, HSBC maintained communication with its customers, issuing apologies on social media and updating them about the status of their services. The spokesperson for HSBC explained that their teams were actively engaged in addressing the intermittent issues, assuring customers that traditional banking methods such as card transactions remained unaffected. The response from HSBC was consistent with their public commitment to maintaining service efficiency and customer satisfaction, even amidst technical difficulties. As banks grapple with these outages, the Treasury Committee, composed of members from various political parties, has officially reached out to the CEOs of banks including HSBC and Barclays. They have requested detailed reports on the frequency and duration of recent IT failures, as well as the number of customers affected in the past two years. This inquiry represents a broader scrutiny of the banking sector's digital capabilities, highlighting the potential impact on consumer trust and customer service in an increasingly digital age.